The court backlog is bad enough already. But there’s no answer to this that isn’t “give them more money”, because a y other option is terrible for justice.
imagine being arrested for newly created civil unrest laws, only to find they can’t do jack shit about it as there’s no courts. we must be heading that way.
Isn’t the point of a strike that we realise how much we need a profession?
Remember; these people are not asking for a flat 25% pay rise, because their pay doesn’t work like most other jobs.
They’re asking for a 25% increase in legal aid fees.
When they do legal aid work they only get paid for the time they turn up in court. So if they’re currently paid £100 for that court session, the new wage would be £125.
That would apply to junior barristers and barristers who have 10+ years experience. The chart showing how much they can earn after a few years is irrelevant, because that is not the legal aid earnings, that is their total earnings averaged out which includes all other private work.
So they’re not asking for a barrister on £50,000 a year to get a 25% all year round pay rise. They’re asking for an increase in the legal aid fees themselves, because the current fees do not take into account any time the barristers have to spend meeting with clients or putting any work into their cases; they only get paid for turning up to court.
You would think that something so important to the justice system would have people who worked directly for the government on a set wage. But apparently it’s cheaper to treat them like contractors and pay them a small flat fee for the time they show up in court.
[deleted]
They can make 2 coffees in 3 minutes and their pay is less per hour than those 2 coffees. Fuck Starbucks and Costa I’m 100% behind the baristas
On the one hand, fair play to them.
On the other, I’m sure the Tories would love to get rid of legal aid entirely so if legal aid barristers go on indefinite strike, they could just as well remove all the funding.
When you’re living under the rule of the party of law and order and the barristers go on strike.
First strike by people in wigs?
I’d love to know where you guys manage to find criminal barristers on £100 for a court session. When I tried hiring a basic family solicitor it was over £100 an hour labour plus £25 to send a letter and another £25 to receive a letter, then another £20 to let me know they’d received a letter.
Who cares lol
Does that mean we have no law and order now?
I think the Government could be in real trouble here.
Doing legal aid work as a barrister is already a kind of community service which earns you less then taking private cases. An indefinite legal aid strike will not be like other kinds of strike. The people involved will still be working, still be earning and with a fair wind may even earn more during the strike.
A win for the employer in a long strike is usually achieved because the strikers are forced back to work by poverty and the threat of starvation. That simply won’t happen here because barristers can earn a better living taking privately funded criminal cases and civil cases instead. So what incentive other than the requested increase could the government possibly bring to bear on the strikers?
The government are more interested in paying their rich mates. They couldn’t give a shit and now with Truss leading these loonies it’ll be even worse. She’s more concerned about being on Vogue.
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The court backlog is bad enough already. But there’s no answer to this that isn’t “give them more money”, because a y other option is terrible for justice.
imagine being arrested for newly created civil unrest laws, only to find they can’t do jack shit about it as there’s no courts. we must be heading that way.
Isn’t the point of a strike that we realise how much we need a profession?
https://youtu.be/uG3uea-Hvy4
Good on ’em.
Remember; these people are not asking for a flat 25% pay rise, because their pay doesn’t work like most other jobs.
They’re asking for a 25% increase in legal aid fees.
When they do legal aid work they only get paid for the time they turn up in court. So if they’re currently paid £100 for that court session, the new wage would be £125.
That would apply to junior barristers and barristers who have 10+ years experience. The chart showing how much they can earn after a few years is irrelevant, because that is not the legal aid earnings, that is their total earnings averaged out which includes all other private work.
So they’re not asking for a barrister on £50,000 a year to get a 25% all year round pay rise. They’re asking for an increase in the legal aid fees themselves, because the current fees do not take into account any time the barristers have to spend meeting with clients or putting any work into their cases; they only get paid for turning up to court.
You would think that something so important to the justice system would have people who worked directly for the government on a set wage. But apparently it’s cheaper to treat them like contractors and pay them a small flat fee for the time they show up in court.
[deleted]
They can make 2 coffees in 3 minutes and their pay is less per hour than those 2 coffees. Fuck Starbucks and Costa I’m 100% behind the baristas
On the one hand, fair play to them.
On the other, I’m sure the Tories would love to get rid of legal aid entirely so if legal aid barristers go on indefinite strike, they could just as well remove all the funding.
There’s some explanation of why barristers are striking from The Secret Barrister here, presenting the strikers’ point of view: https://thesecretbarrister.com/2022/04/11/why-are-criminal-barristers-taking-part-in-an-unnecessary-and-irresponsible-strike/
When you’re living under the rule of the party of law and order and the barristers go on strike.
First strike by people in wigs?
I’d love to know where you guys manage to find criminal barristers on £100 for a court session. When I tried hiring a basic family solicitor it was over £100 an hour labour plus £25 to send a letter and another £25 to receive a letter, then another £20 to let me know they’d received a letter.
Who cares lol
Does that mean we have no law and order now?
I think the Government could be in real trouble here.
Doing legal aid work as a barrister is already a kind of community service which earns you less then taking private cases. An indefinite legal aid strike will not be like other kinds of strike. The people involved will still be working, still be earning and with a fair wind may even earn more during the strike.
A win for the employer in a long strike is usually achieved because the strikers are forced back to work by poverty and the threat of starvation. That simply won’t happen here because barristers can earn a better living taking privately funded criminal cases and civil cases instead. So what incentive other than the requested increase could the government possibly bring to bear on the strikers?
The government are more interested in paying their rich mates. They couldn’t give a shit and now with Truss leading these loonies it’ll be even worse. She’s more concerned about being on Vogue.