The Law Society has condemned as ‘flawed and self-serving’ a Bar Standards Board survey alleging a decline in the quality of advocacy.

The report, Perceptions of Criminal Advocacy, found that a majority of barristers responding to an online survey blamed pressure on criminal legal aid and the growing share of work taken by solicitor-advocates for a decline in standards that is harming the administration of justice.

However, Desmond Hudson, chief executive of the Law Society, said that the methodology ‘simply gave participants an opportunity to express their prejudices and self interest’.

‘The best place for this report is the recycling bin,’ he added.

The bar regulator’s research found widespread perceptions of criminal advocates acting beyond their competence and that a majority of respondents felt that levels of underperformance in criminal advocacy are harming the fair and proper administration of justice. Only one of the 762 respondents was a solicitor. BSB chair Lady Deech said she was ‘disappointed that solicitors and judges did not take part as this would have given us more extensive data to analyse’.

Hudson said: ‘It is understandable that many solicitors chose not to waste their time on taking part. The unsurprising result tells us what the criminal bar think and adds little that cannot be found on the Criminal Bar Association website.’