Criminal barristers are calling for justice, not in court but on the streets. They have been striking for a pay rise, fed up with what is, effectively, less than minimum wage pay. Against this background, on 23rd September, Sociology and Politics A Level students from St Catherine’s School, Twickenham, ventured into London to explore the importance of the country’s legal system and the history of barristers’ life at court. Tours of The Royal Courts of Justice and the Old Bailey offered insightful experiences. Members of the general public are able to observe a court case of their choice. In fact there was an elderly couple witnessing an attempted murder case! Now that’s something you don’t see often on a Wednesday afternoon. It was an enlightening and extremely interesting experience, and one I highly recommend.
These tours showed us the importance of the criminal justice system, and the duty it holds to serve justice to victims and defendants alike. This brings us back to the strike action of criminal barristers. “Thousands of barristers who specialise in criminal law are on strike due to immense underfunding of the Criminal Court,” said tour guide and journalist Tim Wood. In early October, criminal barristers in England and Wales voted to accept a government deal on Legal Aid and so halted their strike action. Barristers returned to work on Tuesday 11th October after 57 percent voted to accept a 15 per cent increase in Legal Aid Fees. Haroon Siddique in The Guardian described how the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) had framed the action as “a fight for the survival of the profession, with particular emphasis on the low pay for juniors”. The danger the CBA has perceived is that junior barristers are unable to survive at the criminal bar with these conditions and will slowly transition to other areas of law. It seems that junior barristers may not have acquiesced to these terms unlike their senior colleagues.
With the striking of criminal barristers and a backlog of cases in court, due to Covid-19, justice for all, barristers, defendants and victims, seems at risk of becoming unattainable.
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