Fiction: You waste public money defending undeserving career criminals Fact: Justice demands that everyone is innocent till proven guilty and that everyone has the right to a defence. The beauty of our system is that alleged criminals receive a proper defence but are also properly prosecuted. Many Criminal Barristers do both, you cant have one […]
Fiction: The Fat Cat Legal Aid Lawyer Fact: The bedrock of the Criminal Justice system is the Duty Solicitor. They do the large majority of criminal cases, especially in the Police Station and Magistrates Court. Last month I did a quick survey of DS salaries They fall in a range between £20 – 40K roughly […]
Fiction: Legal Aid spending is “spiralling out of control”. Fact: All the available evidence suggests the opposite to be the case. Have a read of the CLSA’s consultation response especially comments on the Ministerial Foreword. You can download it, and many others, here.
Fiction: Legal Aid Lawyers deliberately prolong cases to increase their fees. Fact: The vast bulk of Criminal Legal Aid fees are now standard fees. All these have been expressly designed to make the inflating fees impossible. In fact the “market force” is exactly the opposite; completing a case as quickly as possible, with the minimum […]
Fiction: Legal Aid Lawyers get paid £300 per hour So a member of public claimed during a recent BBC 5 Live debate on the proposed cuts Facts: Solicitor hourly rates for Criminal work start at £46.90 The standard hourly rate for attending the Police station in the middle of the night is £69.05 Both of […]
Today is “Save UK Justice” day. Most people coming here will need no convincing about this. So in support we are going to do a series of short Fact or Fiction posts for any unconvinced readers who chance our way. Get your consultation responses in!