I think you hit the nail on the head regarding public perception of the criminal bar.

Partly that’s the success of the govt’s disinformation campaign; it’s vey easy to conflate say the rates paid to the commercial bar with that of criminal barristers slogging away at the coal face. But there’s also the lack of realistic representation of the day to day work in fictional media. We’ve been having a bit of an exasperated laugh at the images in a recent television programme; showing a junior criminal barrister in their swish oak panelled room. That will be news to people hot desking in chambers.

I guess though showing someone having microwaved lasagne thrown at them through the wicket of some Victorian cell by a clucking client before heading upstairs to earn their £46.50 doesn’t make for good telly.

Nothing new there of course. I remember watching “This Life” with someone being sent to cover a shoplifting trial at the local mags “500 on the brief miss”. Yeah, more like £75 mate; if you’re lucky.

Hang on – since when does the amount an advocate is paid influence the outcome of a trial???

Doesn’t the jury or the magistrates decide ‘rightly’ or ‘wrongly’ whether someone is guilty or innocent? Mistakes might be made too by a jury or judge, but again, those mistakes have absolutely zero to do with what the defence barrister is paid.

I get that emotions are high during these strikes – I really do, but it’s simply not true that murderers are necessarily going to roam the streets because of this government.

They might though if ‘Hugaux Mountain-Forrt IV’ at ‘Plastic Buildings’ doesn’t want to prepare cases because he wants to get paid at a similar level to his BPTC buddies, as he thinks he’s worth it and he’s really angry.