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This article is a bit inflammatory and perhaps a bit misleading - the BSB report does make a point that barristers who were interviewed said they were sometimes instructed late but this article implies that barristers universally "slammed" solicitors for poor conduct, which is not reflected in the BSB report if you read it in full. There are extraordinarily committed and skilled solicitors and caseworkers doing asylum and immigration work, and there are some poor quality ones as well -and the legal aid contract exacerbates this, with numerous incentives to cut corners.
The BSB report is mainly about how to improve regulation of barristers, so let's not pretend it's one branch of the profession slating another, when it really isn't.
So I agree with the commenter above that we should be working together not letting stuff like this divide us - and most of us do. A lot of barristers, solicitors and caseworkers co-operate in training one another, sharing information and legal arguments, fighting for legal aid, campaigning against the more appalling government anti-immigration initiatives and so on - it's probably the most "collegiate" area of law, particularly thanks to ILPA and Refugee Legal Group.

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