Dear Editor,
Thank you for the article by Nicola Laver on the justice system (en November 2022).
Many people think that all lawyers are rich. Some are, many aren’t. It all depends on the kind of work you do, and who pays you to do it.
My husband was a solicitor for 40 years and we found it a challenge to bring up a family on his salary. Most of the work he did was Legal Aid work which means you are paid, not by the client, but by the government. For the last 30 years before he died he was a child protection solicitor which meant that he represented children being taken into care and the parents of such children. He also did other work concerned with children, such as cases involving education and child abuse. It was harrowing work, emotionally draining and demanding a high level of legal expertise. He often worked out of normal hours, including weekends, attending court and visiting children in foster care far and wide.
I once asked him about the way he was paid. He said: ‘Well, you do the work, which could take years, you submit your bill to the Legal Aid Board, they knock a bit off because they assume you are overcharging and you might get paid six months later, or longer’. Imagine any other business working that way!
Before he died, seven years ago, my husband was predicting the collapse of the justice system in this country due to lack of funding. It seems he was right.
Yours sincerely,
Lesley Barnes By email
