Hundreds of barristers have quit the criminal courts since 2016 prompting fears in the justice system of a shortage of prosecution and defence counsel.
Senior lawyers have told The Times that low legal aid rates, which means some defence barristers being paid below the minimum wage, and court delays because of Covid-19, have led to an exodus, particularly of young lawyers.
According to officials at the Criminal Bar Association, 22 per cent of junior criminal barristers have left since 2016 and specialist chambers in England and Wales have reduced their tenancies by about a third. Research by the association showed that the number of junior barristers specialising in crime had fallen by 11 per cent between 2016-17 and 2019-20 from 2,553 to 2,273.
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