With defence barristers voting to go on indefinite strike after Friday, August 26, Southwark barrister Rachel Law told the News why she’s taking off the wig.
A Southwark resident and lawyer at Goldsmith Chambers, Rachel Law, 38, has been a qualified criminal barrister for ten years, prosecuting and defending cases involving drugs, serious violence and fraud.
She went into the profession because, being self-employed, it offers flexibility and independence, but also because she “believes so strongly in the justice system”.
“I think it was because I believe so strongly in the justice system that we have. It has been the envy of the world and viewed very well by other countries and I think that’s one of the things that’s so disappointing – that it’s not seen like that anymore. The system is absolutely on its knees. I can’t overemphasise how much of a threat it is under.”
Striking barristers say the legal aid budget has been steadily slashed over the years, imperilling the administration of justice and their wages.
Introduced in 1949, it is the pot of money used to pay for legal advice for those who cannot afford it.
It ensures that everyone, regardless of means, is entitled to legal representation and that defence barristers get paid for their work.
But between 2010 and 2019, the justice budget saw a cut of 25 per cent in real terms. The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) says barristers have suffered an average decrease in real earnings of 28 per cent since 2006.
Rachel, who rents a one-bedroom flat in the borough, says many barristers are feeling the squeeze right now.
“I think everyone is having to be more careful. I teach aspiring bar students and one thing I ask them to consider is being broke in your 20s is one thing but financially struggling in your late 30s and 40s is something else entirely.
“An awful lot of women [in the legal profession] put off having families and an awful lot of people leave the bar because of that difficult situation.”
While two per cent of barristers earn over £1 million a year, nearly 12 per cent earn less than £30,000, with junior barristers earning a median salary of £12,220.
The legal system is in crisis, says Rachel. Explaining the 60,000 case backlog, she says Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab has distorted its causes: “He is talking about the backlog in cases being caused by the strikes but that simply isn’t true.
“What happened, even before Covid, was the government limited days when the court was sitting to save on the costs of individual courtrooms and staff.
“They closed courtrooms that could have been used. Salaried judges were sitting at home not working because the courts weren’t sitting so the backlog was driven by that. We were shouting about that before Covid happened.”
Rachel’s local MP Neil Coyle said: “The local backlog in getting cases to court has 2010 to 2015 coalition cuts at its core.
“People are denied justice due to police cuts, court closures and the underfunding of the whole criminal justice system. The low legal aid fees have forced an unprecedented strike by barristers.
“It took a strike by ministers to oust Prime Minister Johnson but I hope the new Tory Leader will take action quickly to prevent further delays to justice for people in Southwark.”
The latest strike is no knee-jerk reaction, but the latest step in a gradual, staggered escalation of industrial action, says Rachel.
The idea, she says, has been to give the government time to come to the table and negotiate a deal on legal aid.
Demanding a 25 per cent pay increase, on April 11, barristers adopted a ‘no returns’ policy meaning they would not accept cases given to them by colleagues who have a diary clash.
From Monday, June 27, barristers started striking one additional day each week until week four, when they started striking on alternate weeks.
Dominic Raab has offered barristers a pay increase of 15 per cent, below their demands, and this wouldn’t kick in until late 2023 or early 2024.
Rachel says she is “very close” to giving up her job: “I’m of an age where I live in a rented one bedroom flat and, compared to my peers that have done other jobs, I’m not in a great financial situation.”
The bar is already less diverse compared to the country as a whole. Over half of British-educated QCs attended fee-paying schools compared to just seven per cent of the general population.
Case postponed twice because court didn’t organise Spanish interpreter
Rachel, who isn’t from a wealthy background, says the profession is already hard to enter for the less privileged and current trends could exacerbate this problem.
Asked if it matters whether the criminal justice system is representative of the wider population, she says: “I think it does matter… criminal law isn’t all white middle-class men anymore. It’s more diverse.
“But if you can’t afford to do it, it’ll become increasingly unstable for people like me who aren’t from wealthy backgrounds.
“Nobody thinks they’re going to end up in court to which I say ‘if you drive a car and you’re distracted and hit someone’ it’s entirely possible you’re going to prison. If you end up in court, you probably want to see people who are like you.”
She says she and her colleagues embark on these latest strikes “with a heavy heart”.
“Everyone who does this job is in it because they believe in it 100 per cent. Nobody is turning up for their shift and then just going home. That’s not how it works.
“But now I’m having to say to clients ‘I’m not going to represent you’ which means they might spend longer in prison. What I will say is all of it is with a very heavy heart.
“The job isn’t easy. It takes it out of you. We deal with traumatic stuff every day and most of us know we could go into an area of law for a job that doesn’t give you nightmares about the things you’ve heard in court that day. Most of us are sticking because we really believe in it but we can only do it so long.”
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has been approached for comment.