THE end of the £1 million-a-year barrister was signalled yesterday under reforms to cut £100 million a year from the legal aid bill and ensure that taxpayers obtain value for money.

Ministers have agreed a package of reforms that will prompt a fundamental overhaul of the £2.1 billion-a-year scheme, paying young barristers 16 to 30 per cent more in fees but severely cutting payments to top-earning QCs.

Under the new system, outlined in a report by Lord Carter of Coles, about 400 small law firms will merge or go out of business. Legal aid work will be provided through contracts, and the present system, paying in most cases by the hour, or the work done, will be replaced by fixed or graduated fees. The plans for reform of the way legal advice is paid for by the taxpayer in England and Wales will be introduced from April.

The Law Society of England and Wales and the Bar gave a cautious welcome to the reforms, but criminal solicitors were more critical. Kevin Martin, President of the society, said that more work was needed to develop the proposals. The society was unconvinced that fewer, larger firms would “provide access to justice for all”, he added.

Stephen Hockman, QC, said: “There is much to welcome in Lord Carter’s proposals but the delay in reversing the decade of cuts in junior barristers’ pay is unjustified.” He added that the shift in pay from top-earners to the bottom end of the Bar was already under way.

The Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association said that the proposals were a disaster that would force 1,000 law firms to close. Linda Woolley, its president, said: “We are convinced that Lord Carter’s approach to reform of the legal aid system will seriously damage access to justice and the quality of legal advice.”

Lord Carter, appointed by the Lord Chancellor to address the shortcomings of the scheme, made 62 recommendations that will strip £100 million from it over five years and cap total costs. Money will be redirected from criminal legal aid — expected to be cut by more than 20 per cent over four years — into civil and family work.

Lord Carter said: “There will be a substantial restructuring . . . I would like to see the end of the £1 million-a-year criminal defence barrister.” Under the reforms, a barrister would probably “have to do four weeks’ work in one week” to achieve the previous levels of earnings. He said that top-earning QCs could make annual legal aid earnings in the region of £200,000, while legal aid partners in a firm of 40 lawyers should be able to earn up to £150,000 a year.

Lord Carter added: “The existing system does permit people to make unreasonably large amounts of money. We believe the new system can find ways to constrain that.”

Only QCs with 15 years or more experience will experience a fall in pay, of about 3 per cent, the report suggests. It also predicts that potential gross earnings for a QC would be about £196,000 a year. Legal aid costs £2.1 billion a year. About 60 per cent goes on criminal work and the rest on civil and family cases.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Lord Chancellor, said that he was acting immediately. “If we don’t reform it along the lines that Lord Carter suggests, then there won’t be the access to the system, it will get out of control and we won’t have a sustainable providers’ market.”

The reforms will cut £30 million from the cost of running the Legal Services Commission.

COURT COSTS

• The legal aid bill has risen from £1.5bn in 1997 to £2.1bn today
  
  
• Cost to each taxpayer is nearly £100 a year
  
  
• £90m is spent each year on solicitors’ travelling and waiting time
  
  
• Reforms will save £100m a year and cut 20 per cent of the amount spent on criminal legal aid over four years
  
  
• Law firms will bid for contracts
  
  
• Barristers’ fees will be restored to levels of 10 years ago, with rises of 16 to 30 per cent
  
  
• Between 400 and 1,000 law firms are expected to merge or close, in move to bigger legal aid practices
  
  
• Fixed and graduated fees will be paid in place of payment for work done

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