Criminal legal aid lawyers have been left with no choice but to unionise, the head of a London practitioner group has suggested - as pressure mounts on the government to break the deadlock over remuneration.

Last week the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association and the Criminal Law Solicitors Association had ‘very productive talks’ with unions.

In an update to members this week, LCCSA president Fadi Daoud said the impasse with the Ministry of Justice had reached a point that ‘unionisation may be the only way to secure a sustainable future, not just for legal aid solicitors working today in our courts and criminal justice system but for the solicitors of tomorrow’.

Daoud said: ‘Whilst the increase of 15% announced last year was broadly welcomed, we all know in truth it paid lip service to Lord Bellamy’s recommendations and would make little difference. Lord Bellamy recognised of the two branches of the profession, solicitors in particular needed an immediate cash injection to stop the erosion of talent (and for all the other reasons he recognised in his report). Instead, the rates increase is derisory, limited to a few tens of pounds on litigator’s fees, ignoring PPE [pages of Prosecution Evidence] and prison law.

‘Solicitors will continue to suffer an exodus from the profession, operating as a cottage industry, with ever growing advice deserts. As professionals working in police stations, courts and advising people on remand in prisons (with shameful numbers waiting for trial) we are not fooled by false assurances that duty solicitor numbers are growing again.’

Daoud said solicitors had been willing to assist over the years, ‘as an older cohort, tired, disheartened, disrespected, ignored, and marginalised, covering back-to-back duties, finishing an overnight police station duty at 4am back at court the next day, juggling a busy court list by co-opting help from colleagues, cobbling together a sticking plaster solution, to cover a gaping wound, to avoid delay and cost’.

The LCCSA supports the Law Society's potential judicial review challenge, Daoud said. ‘We will also continue talks with unions about forming a union for legal aid lawyers. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.'

 

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