The rise will see a typical criminal lawyer receive an extra 000 7,000 a year, the Justice Department said. However, the Criminal Bar Association said that further departures will take place as planned in the coming weeks, as the offer does not meet their demands for improved remuneration, but merely puts forward the mechanism for a pre-announced remuneration improvement. Criminal lawyers will also receive a 15 per cent increase in their work in police stations and magistrates’ courts and youth courts, with further multimillion-pound lawyer pay reforms still pending. CBA members left earlier this week, many joined in picket queues outside Old Bailey and other courts with wigs and black gowns, in a row over legal aid fees to represent defendants who cannot afford to cover the costs themselves. Further strikes were threatened in the following weeks. A CBA spokesman told The Independent: “Unfortunately, today’s announcement is nothing new, as the Department of Justice has always made it clear that the new payment system will only take effect this autumn and will only lock in new directives from then on. “It will not be retroactive and therefore the accumulation of a record 58,000 or more cases will continue to be paid at the old rates for the years it will take to complete.” Because of the long delays in cases going through the courts, it will be years before lawyers receive remuneration under the new rates, he said. CBA President Jo Sidhu QC said: “The statement does not tell us anything new and most importantly it does not change the overall timing of when lawyers can expect the new 15 per cent to be of any benefit to criminal lawyers.” . The CBA said there was no change in plans for industrial action over the next four weeks, escalating from a two-day demolition in the first week to a full strike from Monday to Friday in the week beginning July 18. Justice Secretary James Cartridge said: “Our dynamic efforts to deal with the backlog of courts are paying off, but the strike by criminal lawyers is threatening all this progress, despite the very generous offer of pay at the table. “A typical criminal lawyer will earn an extra 000 7,000 a year from September, so I urge the Criminal Bar Association to accept this offer to stop victims from waiting any longer for justice.” The president of the Bar Council, Mark Fenhalls QC, said criminal lawyers feel “abused, underestimated and degraded” after a decade of underfunding the judiciary. “Today’s announcement of a 15 percent fee increase is not enough to reverse the cuts of the last decade, but it is a welcome first step in the right direction,” he said. “There is a lot more work to be done to repair the damage and start rebuilding trust with the legal professions.” A Downing Street spokesman said any further labor action would be “disappointing and sad”. The spokesman said: “The strike will make the victims wait longer for justice, especially when we are working to clear the delays from the pandemic and we have seen them decrease. “We encourage them to agree on a proposed 15 per cent pay rise.”
