The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has agreed a legal aid truce with barristers over complex fraud trials after a dispute threatened to halt such cases because of the cuts to legal aid.
Earlier this week, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said that his department was enforcing a 30 per cent cut in legal aid fees for what are known as Very High Cost Cases (VHCC), but agreed to make more generous payments at an earlier stage in court proceedings. Details of the individually negotiated fees have not been revealed.
The deal, which many have called a climbdown, follows the refusal of expert barristers to take one VHCC at reduced rates, leading to the collapse of the high profile land bank trial and its subsequent reinstatement by the Court of Appeal.
Following the agreement, which only covers the seven VHCC currently listed for trial, barristers have agreed to return to work as long as the MoJ does not recruit more lawyers to its Public Defenders Service (PDS), which the barristers believe to be a strike-breaking operation.
Talks will resume after these trials and the Bar Council, Criminal Bar Association (CBA) and circuit leaders will work with the MoJ to design an alternative to the VHCC payment scheme.
Meanwhile, to assist the cash flow of advocates who undertake such cases, the Ministry has agreed to make earlier interim payments, so that barristers do not have to wait months or years to be paid.
Speaking after the deal was announced, a spokesman for the CBA said that the Government has “pulled back from the brink” of destroying the legal aid system and has recognised that the most complex cases should be defended by the most able advocates and that clients should have the right to select the barrister of their choice rather than having to use the PDS.