How much should criminal barristers be paid?

After writing last week about how it was ridiculous to compare the income of legal aid criminal legal aid barristers to the Prime Minister’s income (as Chris Grayling proposed), perhaps we should think about the question – how much should they be paid?

Although it is on the face of things a very boring question for almost everyone except barristers, it does matter enormously. We cannot expect to have a properly functioning justice system without adequate lawyers to prosecute and defend. Our jury system can only function if competent advocates for the prosecution and the defence are available to test the evidence for each side. And we cannot expect to recruit good judges unless there is a pool of good lawyers from which they can be selected. Continue reading “How much should criminal barristers be paid?”

Mr Grayling’s attack on the Criminal Bar

The Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling has announced he is to take yet another “axe to the criminal legal aid budget”. Despite the fact that legal aid fees paid to criminal barristers have already been cut by 13.5% since 2010, and are planned to be cut further, his new idea is that no barrister should receive more from public money than the Prime Minister’s salary of £142,000.

But Mr Grayling’s assertion that the Prime Minister’s overall remuneration should be the measure of a top criminal barrister’s earnings only works in his favour if we ignore Mr Cameron’s actual earnings. Continue reading “Mr Grayling’s attack on the Criminal Bar”