Bar Council Statement in Response to Ministry of Justice Consultation on Legal Aid Funding Reforms – The Bar Council

Posted August 21st, 2009 in barristers, legal aid, news by sally

“Desmond Browne QC, Chairman of the Bar Council, commenting on the publication today of the Ministry of Justice consultation ‘Legal Aid: Funding Reforms’ said:

‘It is a total misuse of language for Lord Bach to talk about ‘efficiency savings’. These are cuts in spending, pure and simple, to what is an integral part of the welfare state. It is horrifying that the Ministry can even contemplate such measures during the 60th anniversary of the Legal Aid Act. Cuts on this scale will not merely drive down quality, they will force practitioners out of legal aid work. The Minister knows this has already happened with family legal aid work, as the Bar recently demonstrated with a report from King’s College, London.'”

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The Bar Council, 20th August 2009

Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk