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A furious row has erupted with barristers blaming solicitors for what they say are appalling standards of advocacy in criminal trials.

The Criminal Bar Association has accused solicitor-advocates of keeping the conduct of serious trials for themselves instead of instructing more experienced barristers and of being unfit for the task.

Peter Lodder, QC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said: “There is a huge increase in the use of higher-court advocates [solicitors who are qualified to act as defence advocates in serious trials].

“The Bar does not say that such an advocate is bad by definition. Some are good, but there are many who are truly appalling – defence solicitors who have never before conducted a crown court trial and have very limited experience in the magistrates’ trials now appear as junior advocates to defend in murder trials.”

The Crown Prosecution Service advocates were equally poor, he said. Some had left the Bar because they had never risen above a modest practice.“Now they have become the leading advocate in murder prosecutions, cases in which they would never have been instructed by the CPS while they remained in private practice.”

He told The Times: “All this is done in the interests of economy, without any regard for the interests of justice. Watching the destruction of the system by the use of apparently cheap and inadequate labour is deeply upsetting and demoralising to the professional Bar.”

Desmond Hudson, the chief executive of the Law Society, rejected the notion that solicitor-advocates were not up to scratch. He said: “If Mr Lodder wants to debate this issue seriously, he should provide specific examples so we can address them. We have not been shown any examples of misconduct and therefore these accusations are entirely unsubstantiated.”

Tim Dutton, QC, chairman of the Bar, told the profession’s annual conference at the weekend that each branch must apply its own code of conduct and that neither should let standards slip:“Where there are any signs of sloppiness we want both sides of the profession to stamp it out.”

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