National Law Society president I. Stephanie Boyce has welcomed the Government’s proposal to increase legal aid rates but said more must be done to stop the exodus of criminal law practitioners in the South West.
Miss Boyce, on a visit to Plymouth and Exeter, revealed that there are now only 12 duty solicitors left working in Devon and Somerset combined - and most of them are in the latter stages of their career.
“We are hoping to stop the exodus of criminal defence practitioners leaving the judicial system,” she said.
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Miss Boyce said the Law Society had welcomed the Government’s proposal to hike legal aid rates by 15% and to accept Sir Christopher Bellamy’s recommendation to invest an extra £135m a year into the criminal legal aid sector.
But she said there was concern that the rate rise was not being implemented immediately but only after a 12-week consultation which will end on June 7.
She said that even more duty solicitors could leave the criminal justice sector during that time and highlighted that between 2018 and 2021 the numbers fell by 7% outside of London and the number of duty solicitors aged under 35 declined by 35%.
“We saw no significant increase in legal aid rates in 25 years,” she said. “That equates to a pay freeze. I know of no other job which has not had a pay increase for 25 years.
“This (rates increase) will start to repair some of the damage done to our crumbling justice system. We would have liked more than 15% but it represents a significant improvement and a good result for us.”
She added: “We have been campaigning for years to get this investment and welcome the proposals, but our concern is this consultation period means there will be no increase before June 7. We are worried about the number of practitioners that will leave the profession before this consultation ends - so we would like it implemented immediately.”
Miss Boyce said the average age of defence practitioners is now 49, and in some parts of the country 55.
Miss Boyce - only the sixth woman, and first person of colour, to be national Law Society president - is taking part in a “president’s tour” of England and Wales and has already visited Bristol, Bournemouth, the Isle of Wight and London.
In Exeter and Plymouth she visited law firms and also addressed students at the University of Plymouth and Devonport High School for Girls.
Miss Boyce told the students about her own journey, under the title “dare to dream”, as the child of migrants to the UK from the Caribbean, and with no family connections to call on, she has risen to a position representing 215,000 solicitors.
“My grandfather was illiterate, my father left education aged 12,” she said. “There were no networks of academics in my family.”
While stressing she represents “everyone”, Miss Boyce said she still aims to inspire people from minority backgrounds into the legal profession.
“It is my intention to leave the profession more diverse and inclusive than when I entered,” she said. “It’s great to be recognised but I could not have done it without the support of my members.”
