UK Secretary of State for Justice Ken Clarke has submitted plans to the Treasury which - if they go ahead - could see up to half a billion pounds slashed from the current £2.2 billion legal aid budget.
Potential cost cutting measures include restricting funds for those seeking judicial review and other late stage challenges in immigration cases and the introduction of fixed fees for family cases. There are also plans to place new caps on barristers' rates in criminal cases - potentially reducing their fees by up to 30% - raising concerns that the best of the barristers will be driven out of legal aid work and the most talented discouraged from joining.
Following the announcement by the MoJ of its decision to scrap its funding scheme for legal aid trainees, such brutal cuts would spell yet more trouble for the beleaguered legal aid system. The fear is that these measures would lead to a two tier legal system: with the rich being able to afford the best representation whilst the poor are lumbered with increasingly junior and inexperienced lawyers.