Michelle Mone says it’s ‘not nice working from home’

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In an open letter to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the Ministry of Justice and Lord Chief Justice, solicitors and barristers addressed the COVID-19 recovery document released by HMCTS in July 2020.

The document in question included a plan to immediately extend the operating hours of the criminal courts, with these hours including weekends and evenings on top of the busy schedules professionals in the field already operate on – a move which barristers and solicitors have rightly refused.

The open letter addresses this issue, questioning the validity of the solution, with the statement “the backlog of cases in the criminal courts is not due to the COVID-19 outbreak” insisting instead that “it is the inevitable outcome of selling off courts, of reducing judges’ sitting days and of other cost-cutting measures”.

The letter goes on to say that the Government has “ignored our warnings” and remains “entirely unmoved” as respected legal aid firms closed down and duty solicitors and criminal barristers left the profession in large quantities.

This move has meant the Government is telling those remaining in the profession that it is “all hands to the pump”, a move which the barristers and solicitors in the criminal courts of England and Wales say is to “fix a disaster which is entirely of the Government’s own making”.

The statement also refers to “the obliteration of our profession” including the fact that pupils and trainees earn less than the Real Living Wage, a move which is likely to deter people from pursuing a career in the criminal justice system.

Government actions have “left the courts – our places of work – leaking, filthy and broken” and that due to low means thresholds for legal aid, many defendants have been forced to represent themselves “when their livelihoods, families, mental health and liberty are at stake”.

The demands from the Government’s plan ask law workers to forgo evenings and weekends and opportunities for recuperation from exhausting days, or to spend time with loved ones for no extra funding.

A decision which the letter comments on was made “without our representative bodies having been consulted in advance” of the plan being made public.

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The letter ends with a powerful statement reading: “We will not do it. Our goodwill has run dry. The undersigned will not attend a single court listing outside of regular court hours. Not under any circumstances.

“We want to clear the backlog, but in a way which builds towards a sustainable future for the criminal justice system, and which affords dignity to ourselves, our clients, and court staff.”

One comment of support on the letter reads: “As someone looking to work in the profession this is worrying. The criminal justice system is underfunded and the backlog is not Covid-related.”

Another added: “The Government needs to start realising that Defence Lawyers are human too and we have lives that cannot be dictated by endless working rotas!”

A third added their signature with the comment: “We are already struggling to attract criminal lawyers because of the poor funding and this will be another nail in the demise of our profession.”

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