The government knows the cost of legal aid, but not its value

"There's no future in it," is what I was told when I entered the legal profession armed with a passionate belief in this country's justice system and, crucially, in legal aid, which allowed those who would not otherwise have access to a solicitor to do so. I did not at that time ever imagine that access to a solicitor of your choice would be so casually cast aside in a race to the bottom which is creating a system that pays only lip service to the fundamental rights which underpin our entire sense of justice.

I have an honours degree in business law; it could have been just the right introduction to the corporate and commercial world where, in exchange for long hours and high stress, I could earn a salary beyond the wildest expectations of my working class forbears. Instead, my passion for defence was ignited aged 14 by the Clive Stafford-Smith documentary '14 Days in May', which followed the last 14 days in the life of Edward Earl Johnson as he awaited execution on death row. The last minutes, which showed Johnson's lawyer sat outside the gas chamber with his client and his subsequent witnessing of the execution, brought home to me the importance of giving a voice to those who cannot defend themselves whether they are guilty or innocent, and that law could be about compassion as well as commercialism.

Today, if the justice minister has his way, money - not morals - will be at the heart of our justice system. The United Kingdom spends 0.5% of its GDP on providing a robust and fair justice system which is copied and revered the world over. If you are arrested and have many hours to pass in your cell before a robust interview with officers trained to eek out a confession, the lawyer of your choice will attend to help you. When you face court proceedings and the possible loss of your good name, your job or your liberty, the lawyer of your choice will help you. This does not come cheap, but it is a price worth paying.

Society wants the guilty convicted quickly and punished appropriately, and the innocent to be acquitted; no victim of crime wishes to see the wrong person convicted at any cost. Article 6 of the Human Rights Act enshrines the basic principle of the right to a fair trial: to know what the case against you is and be able to test the evidence on which a conviction is sought. If you are articulate, you can argue for yourself; if you are wealthy, you can pay for the best to argue for you. All too often it is the poor, the vulnerable, the mentally ill and the inarticulate who find themselves in the criminal justice system - and they rely more often that not on legal aid (at average £49 per hour to taxpayer) to fight their corner.

Many myths persist; we have let ourselves down over the years in not tackling them. Fat cats we are not, most earning £20 - £40k. Funding is not available for us to assist prisoners who complain about the absence of meat in their meat pies and we are subject to a fixed-fee regime, which means that it is nonsense to suggest that there is any incentive to drag out cases to line our pockets - the truth is quite the reverse. We have only whimpered about the absence of an increase in rates for the best part of 20 years.  As long as we have been able to carry on caring about and representing our clients, we have sucked up the low rates and the burdensome admin created by mass auditing and we have just carried on. We are the quality control for the system - the rules are not made by us; we simply try to ensure that the state abides by them.

For many years, the entire criminal justice system has been propped up by the goodwill of the people working in it, both for the prosecution and defence. Sometimes when it has gone very wrong, articles and reports appear in the press. More often that not we simply plod on - getting up in the middle of the night, working pro bono in the day.

The world may therefore wonder why we are now so vocal and so agitated about proposals that were sold on the basis that they are going to restore credibility to the system and save taxpayers' money in austere times. What has finally united the solicitors and barristers and caused over 75,000 (and counting) people to sign a government e-petition in protest?

Chris Grayling has just put British justice up for sale to the lowest bidder. He will allow organisations who know nothing about the law into the legal market, he will take away an individual’s right to choose their lawyer and he will potentially put three quarters of the high street firms that have expertise and a reputation for offering a quality service out of business. Solicitors who manage to survive the bidding process (their bid must be at least 17.5% less than they are currently paid) have no guarantees of work volume and every incentive to encourage all clients to plead guilty, whatever the strength or weakness of the evidence against them. One fee - at least 17.5% less than currently paid - will be all there is, whether you spend half an hour on a guilty plea or three days on a trial.

Criminal defence solicitors and barristers have an image problem as far as the public are concerned, fat cats who invent defences and try to get the guilty off - we know that our weakest point in our own defence is the impact on us. The fact remains that many will be out of business, as the government intends to reduce the firms able to offer this service in number from 1,600 to 400. We are unlikely to be absorbed into other areas of law - each having taken their own hit of cuts already. We will join the already overcrowded labour market and hope for the best. Our businesses in your local high street will be empty. We will have three months from successful a bid to the start of a new regime.

We could play along and try to save our own skins - some firms undoubtedly will and good luck to them. But the majority will try to fight these proposals - at the risk of going out of business - not for their own sake, but because we see the dangers that are the unintended consequences of these proposals from the inside: the end of the independent Bar from which robust prosecutors and future judges are drawn, victims being cross examined by defendants who no longer qualify for legal aid and who cannot afford to pay, prosecutions delayed by defendants who want their own trusted lawyers, but are now forced to prepare their case with a lawyer whom they don’t like , rate or trust - and who may be based in a different county, so wide are the proposed geographical contract boundaries. 

Defendants from whom the government requires an early guilty plea will be asked to trust advice from a trucking company or a funeral provider or, most insidiously, potentially from a company that would also be in charge of locking them up. Not one agency nor one participant in the criminal justice system will be unaffected by the proposals. The government consults for a mere eight weeks with lawyers and not at all with the public - the people who are most likely to be detrimentally affected.  Competition breeds quality; I have to try to be the best to ensure that my business survives. When the state allocates your case to its choice of provider, what effort do you think will be put into being the best for you?

Barristers and solicitors are united in their condemnation; up and down the country meetings are taking place and actions being planned. Last week, 1,000 plus people gathered in London for a rally intended to show unity and warn of the dangers. We know we must take our share of the national austerity pain, but not like this. The ministry accepts that, once the system is dismantled, there will be no going back - we urge a pause for reflection and the consideration of a more sustainable and fair way forwards. We know that there is waste in the system; we can help the Ministry of Justice find and deal with it, but it is difficult to engage with someone holding a metaphorical gun to your head.

I, along with others, met the minster a couple of weeks ago and his message was clear. He needs to save money - if we're wise we'll be planning how we can make it work and, if we cannot come up with an alternative, the justice system we know, respect and value will start to be dismantled next autumn. What price justice? This government, which knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing, is about to find out.

Rachel Bentley is a duty solicitor and partner at Trinity Advocates.