Bar Council: solicitors to blame for falling criminal advocacy standards


Courts: barristers not to blame for falling standards

It is solicitors, and not barristers, who are to blame for the decline in advocacy standards that has led to the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), the Bar Council has claimed.

It has also expressed strong opposition to allow solicitors who do not conduct full trials into the scheme in a special category of ‘plea-only advocates’, saying it is not in the public interest.

In its response to the fourth and final QASA consultation – which was as critical as those issued last week by the Criminal Bar Association, Law Society and Criminal Law Solicitors Association – the Bar Council said the decline in service of some advocates is evident to anyone involved in the administration of criminal justice.

“The principal cause is the involvement of higher court advocates in trials or appearances beyond their competence. There are very few criminal barristers who fail to act competently.”

Arguing that all those covered by QASA – solicitors, barristers and chartered legal executives – should be judged against the same standards, it said the introduction of a category for plea-only advocates, which followed extensive lobbying by solicitor groups, would not be in the public interest.

The Bar Council said the consultation suggested that the move was solely in the interests of solicitors; “however, no consideration appears to have been given to the potential impact on defendants and victims.

“There is no evidence that those who are represented by non-trial advocates benefit from the same cohesive and comprehensive judgement on the evidence, the law and likely outcome at trial as those who are represented by trial advocates whose experience is gained in consistently conducting trials and confronting the many challenges they involve”.

The Bar Council also described the scheme as complex and expensive, and “unlikely to be capable of efficient application”, while calling on QCs to be exempt from it altogether on the basis that the award of the mark is more rigorous than QASA.

Bar Council chairman Michael Todd QC said: “Regrettably, the scheme as proposed is ill-considered. The proposals are not the product of evidence-based research nor demonstrable concerns. In seeking to appease sectional interests, they do not serve the public interest, which should determine the outcome of this consultation.”

By contrast, in its response the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates (SAHCA) welcomed the movement on plea-only advocates, while also calling for them to be able to handle such hearings in the Crown Court. It also reiterated its long-running call for a route to progress all the way through the scheme that does not include judicial evaluation, which it said the Solicitors Regulation Authority had promised last year but not seen through.

Questioning the need for QASA at all, SAHCA generally supported the Law Society’s criticisms of the regime, including concerns over insufficient numbers of judges and trials for the number of assessments that will be required.

 

Tags:




Leave a Comment

By clicking Submit you consent to Legal Futures storing your personal data and confirm you have read our Privacy Policy and section 5 of our Terms & Conditions which deals with user-generated content. All comments will be moderated before posting.

Required fields are marked *
Email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog


GEO – the impact of AI on digital marketing for law firms

GEO represents the biggest change in online business generation that I can remember. You cannot afford to stick with the same old engine optimisation techniques.


What the law can learn from fintech’s onboarding revolution

Client onboarding has always been slow. It’s not just about the paperwork and manual workflows; it’s also about those long AML checks and verifications.


Civil enforcement – progress at last with CJC report

‘When do I get my money?’ is a question that litigators acting for successful parties are used to fielding. The value of judgments is of course in the recovery made.


Loading animation