Criminal barristers worry about affording to have kids, buy a house, and even drive to court on their income from legal aid fees.
Many criminal barristers work 60-hour weeks, barely taking even a day off at the weekend, for a median income of £12,200 a year. This has fallen by nearly 30% in the last two decades, causing a "mass exodus" from the profession.
Roughly 40% of junior criminal barristers quit last year, at a time when adult rape victims have to wait an average of 1,500 days for their case to get to trial, according to the Criminal Bar Association, because there aren't enough barristers or judges to defend, prosecute, and preside over trials.
