Over the past few years increasing numbers have been leaving the profession. The criminal Bar appears the major casualty of significant failures to maintain income by simply matching inflation. This coupled with the range of incentives offered to solicitors for carrying out basic court advocacy has increased the plight. There have been dramatic decreases in Barrister’s remuneration over the past decade and the demand for services is increasingly problematic. This is particularly so, at the junior end. As a result a young Barrister’s ability to both obtain and service finance is increasingly impaired.
It is an interesting dilemma that many Barristers do not campaign publicly regarding their financial plight. The media is regularly monopolised by tabloid statements of high paid Silks, milking a Legal Aid system, involved in high profile, excessive trials courtesy of the taxpayer. The reality of this couldn't be further from the truth.
In 2011, less than 10 members of the Criminal Bar earned more than £500,000 and the majority of criminal Barristers were still undertaking Court directions hearing at the standard rate of £46.50 per day. Pupils can get paid just £10,000 per year with this taking years to rise to £20,000 given the lack of work at the junior end.
In the event the Police, civil servants or other trades were paid in this way, significant attention would have been awarded, but Barristers have neither attracted nor obtained great sympathy.
There may be many reasons for this, but one reason could be deeply entrench in the inherent, historic psyche of the profession itself.
Two thirds of Barristers remain privately educated and 82% attend Oxbridge. In light of the associated status with the profession, even when not working each day, it may not necessarily be in the Bar’s interest to announce poverty. The social status of the Bar, may be altered, irreparably.
Alex Deane, left the criminal Bar after 4 years and joined Big Brother Watch, the civil liberties group. He described the Bar as "a hobby and a pleasant one for those with an independent income" stating "you simply cannot make a living from it in the first four or five years. Once you factor in tax and expenses, it's not just a joke that you'd be better off on benefits. It's genuinely true."
It is clear, that this area of the profession has been squeezed hard over the past decade.
The commercial Bar does however continue to prosper and criminal Barristers have been encouraged to diversify in order to make ends meet.
Last year at the Young Criminal Bar Association young barristers were urged to supplement their practices with commercial instructions. This has included undertaking a sideline advising companies on the Bribery Act, expanding into mediation for small-scale civil disputes to advising international companies wishing to set up in the UK.
Diversification is now essential for those without family money and who need to make ends meet. Life goes on and Barristers like all professionals have to pay for daily living expenses, run cars, provide for the family and pay off their debt be that credit cards, loans or Barrister mortgages.
Rebecca Vanstone, a Barrister at 23 Essex Street summed up the situation "Doing commercial work wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I joined the profession – I have always wanted to do criminal defence – but you've got to eat."
The concern remains that diversification may result in Legal Aid or Commuity Legals Service funding taking second fiddle as more people move into commercial work.
The need to make ends meet, may start to outweigh, the love for the job and that is a sad, yet increasingly public indictment of the modern Bar.
