{"id":22599,"date":"2022-06-27T22:25:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T02:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=22599"},"modified":"2022-06-27T22:28:11","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T02:28:11","slug":"barristers-walk-out-of-courts-in-strike-over-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2022\/06\/27\/barristers-walk-out-of-courts-in-strike-over-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"Barristers walk out of courts in strike over pay"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Barristers in criminal cases have gone on strike across England and Wales in a long-running dispute over pay.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Eight out of 10 cases at London’s Old Bailey were disrupted by the walkout, barristers outside the court said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said the strikes will “delay justice”, as courts already face a backlog of 58,000 cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Barristers have rejected a proposed 15% rise in their fees for undertaking legal aid work and will be taking action over the next four weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Members of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) have said this is too low and called for a minimum 25% wage increase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jo Sidhu QC, chair of the CBA, said they had already lost a quarter of specialist criminal barristers over the last five years, with 300 leaving last year.<\/p>\n

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Kirsty Brimelow QC, deputy chair of the CBA, said the proposed rise in legal aid fees would not be introduced until the end of next year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By then, she told the BBC, it would be too late to help and would not do enough to stem the flow of junior barristers leaving the bar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Under the legal aid system, the government pays for barristers to ensure suspects who cannot afford lawyers are properly advised and represented.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The government sets pay rates for barristers doing legal aid work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dozens of barristers have been rallying outside the Old Bailey in their robes and wigs, as two murder trials at the court – one involving a teenage suspect – were unable to get under way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Others have been striking outside a number of high-profile courts, including Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Bristol Crown Courts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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