Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #BarristerStrike
Most recents (6)
Barrister strike having an impact at Cardiff Crown Court.
Dangerous driver due to be sentenced today has no barrister.
He looks bemused as the judge tells him: "There won't be one who can pick up your case for quite some time." #BarristerStrike
Dangerous driver due to be sentenced today has no barrister.
He looks bemused as the judge tells him: "There won't be one who can pick up your case for quite some time." #BarristerStrike
Asked if he knew about the strike, defendant says: "I thought it was all over and we were getting it done today."
Judge says he has option of a solicitor, but defendant replies: "No, I want a barrister please."
Judge says he has option of a solicitor, but defendant replies: "No, I want a barrister please."
Judge adjourns sentencing for 28 days but adds: "I'm plucking that out of the air. It's as good as any other figure."
With all-out strike to begin on September 5, he warns the case may be adjourned "week after week after week"
With all-out strike to begin on September 5, he warns the case may be adjourned "week after week after week"
Thread 🧵 from a former defendant on the #barristerstrike
“As someone who was (rightly) prosecuted for breaking the law, I would not have got through it without the brilliant care of my solicitor and barrister.…
“As someone who was (rightly) prosecuted for breaking the law, I would not have got through it without the brilliant care of my solicitor and barrister.…
..I had never been in any trouble before, and pleaded guilty immediately, but the whole process took over 2 years (from police to magistrates court to crown court to sentencing), and the depression and thoughts of suicide would have overwhelmed me if it wasn’t for…
..the brilliance of those who looked after me, going above and beyond anything I deserved.
Because of them, I was given the right advice, including receiving counselling and GP support, and there to receive my sentence of some community service..
Because of them, I was given the right advice, including receiving counselling and GP support, and there to receive my sentence of some community service..
Thread 🧵 from a junior barrister in a defence-only set:
“We have given all we have to give, and it is insulting to hear the government spew lies & misinformation about something that we live & breathe every day. No other profession would stand for this for this long…
“We have given all we have to give, and it is insulting to hear the government spew lies & misinformation about something that we live & breathe every day. No other profession would stand for this for this long…
..They have dried up the goodwill for too long. We give it our all, for every case. To just list the personal commitments we have given up, only to see the disheartened faces of our loved ones, to hear the hidden disappointment in their voices…
The late nights buzzing on energy drinks to get unpaid written work done on the tightest deadline. Fractured relationships with partners, children who never get to know you, this is all par for the course and expected by the system…
The favourite attack line on the #barristerstrike is to wave a finger at average earnings at the Bar and then suggest that Criminal barristers are being greedy. Here’s how that would go down in court /1
Judge: It is said against you that Criminal barristers earn only ÂŁ12,200 on average in their first 3 years
QC: My Lord, that is *technically* true.
Judge: So it is true.
QC: Yes, but misleading.
Judge: Misleadingly true?
QC: Precisely.
Judge: What? /2
QC: My Lord, that is *technically* true.
Judge: So it is true.
QC: Yes, but misleading.
Judge: Misleadingly true?
QC: Precisely.
Judge: What? /2
QC: My Lord it is the right answer but to the wrong question. What the Court should ask is what the average is across the Bar as a whole.
Judge: Why?
QC: Because some of us earn a very great deal. I, for instance, am receiving a truly impressive sum for this case.
/3
Judge: Why?
QC: Because some of us earn a very great deal. I, for instance, am receiving a truly impressive sum for this case.
/3
#THREAD
By the end of her time as Secretary of State for Justice & Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss had lost the confidence of the entire legal profession & the judiciary. The Lord Chief Justice told the House of Lords Constitution Committee she was “constitutionally absolutely wrong”.
By the end of her time as Secretary of State for Justice & Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss had lost the confidence of the entire legal profession & the judiciary. The Lord Chief Justice told the House of Lords Constitution Committee she was “constitutionally absolutely wrong”.
In November 2016, Truss was criticised by the former Attorney General Dominic Grieve & the Criminal Bar Association, for failing to support more robustly the judiciary & the principle of judicial independence, after judges came under attack from politicians & from the Daily Mail.
Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor, who had previously suggested that, like her immediate predecessors Chris Grayling & Michael Gove, Truss lacked the essential legal expertise that the constitution requires, called for her to be sacked.
Powerful words from Jonathan Rees QC at Cardiff barristers' picket. He says colleagues have been "driven out" of the jobs they love because they could not afford to stay, and describes junior criminal barristers' median income of just ÂŁ12,200 a year as "scandalous"
Striking barristers in Cardiff warn that real-terms decline in pay at the criminal bar is causing an exodus from the profession and years of delays for justice. "We have made our case over and over again to government but our warnings have fallen on deaf ears."
"The very future of our criminal justice system is in jeopardy... For the sake of victims and those accused of crime we will make this last stand to defend the system to which we have devoted our professional lives." #barristerstrike walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-new…
