A lawyers' representative claims police custody suites across Cheshire are in “meltdown” because solicitors are refusing to take on new Legal Aid work in a protest at government cuts.
Solicitors are working to rule in what partner Mike Gray, of Chester-based Gray & Co, says is “a fight for survival” for firms like his own which are dependent on criminal work.
Mr Gray, the Cheshire committee member for the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association, said the action began on July 1 after the imposition of a second tranche of cuts to Legal Aid fees by Lord Chancellor Michael Gove. The effects were now “beginning to bite”’.
“The custody suites across Cheshire are in meltdown,” said Mr Gray, who claims cases are backing up as police struggle to source duty solicitors to represent defendants both here and all over the country. In some areas, solicitors working for the state-run Public Defender Service were “being bussed in” and accommodated in hotels at taxpayers’ expense.
Mr Gray, who attended a protest rally in Manchester yesterday, said it was “painful” to withdraw professional support but it was the only way to make the Lord Chancellor change his mind. “There was a murder case in Bristol that was unrepresented and a murder case in London that was unrepresented.
“Crown courts are adjourning cases. It’s in crisis. Magistrates courts are just getting on with it and people are defending themselves but of course you can’t do that with domestic violence cases.”
In one case, the Defence Solicitor Call Centre had to call 200 firms to find a lawyer, claimed Mr Gray, who said there were people being held in custody who were unrepresented. And he foresees more appeals coming forward if people are convicted without the benefit of professional advice.
“Gove will have to give in. For us, this is do or die,” added Mr Gray, who reckons two thirds of criminal practices could close. He says the big corporate firms would be the ones to benefit if that happened but argues they are more costly because of their huge back office operations. And he hasn’t much faith in their integrity: “It’s a case of pile ‘em high and take the money. That’s not the way justice should be done.”
Mr Gray asks people to imagine if “your children, your friends or yourself” had a scrape with the law and how frightening the closing of the cell door would be if there were “no independents like us” to enforce the rights of the individual. “If these people don’t exist, the system takes advantage,” he added. “For something so draconian, affecting our ability to get representation in a court of law, what they will be saving is miniscule. It’s insane.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson hit back: “The courts have been sitting as usual and the vast majority of cases requiring a solicitor at the police station have been picked up within an hour.
“Although the transition will be challenging, the changes we are pressing ahead with are designed to ensure we have a system of criminal legal aid that delivers value for money to taxpayers, that provides high quality legal advice to those that need it most, and that puts the profession on a sustainable footing for the long term.”
Cheshire Police does not wish to comment.
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