The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has accused the Ministry of Justice of ‘pushing the nuclear button for the legal profession’.

Recent changes are turning the screw further on many solicitors and barristers whose practices depend on this kind of work.

The Coalition Government’s plans to cut £220 million from the annual Legal Aid budget of £2 billion by 2018 saw former chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, Max Hill, call for strike action last year.

Following the publication in April of the Ministry of Justice’s consultation paper on Price Competitive Tendering (PCT) in the legal profession, present chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, Michael Turner QC, told members: “If having read the consultation, anyone of you thinks this is anything other than the end of the legal profession, then read it again.”

Simon Broomer , Managing Director of Career Balance assists solicitors and barristers looking at new career options. He said: “Already the paperwork and bureaucratic hoops that lawyers have to jump through before they are allowed to take on legal aid work, and then to be paid for doing it, means that many solicitors and barristers have chosen to stop doing this kind of work. Job losses in the legal profession are inevitable, probably hitting smaller firms hardest. “

The CBA has accused the Government of being obsessed with money at the expense of access to justice for the poorest and most vulnerable. Many of these individuals may now have no other option than to represent themselves.

Richard Miller, the Law Society’s Head of Legal Aid, said: “'It is very concerning that the government appears prepared to sacrifice client choice, which is widely regarded as a vital principle and an important driver of quality in the justice system.

“We will examine the detail of the government's proposals very carefully and urge members to respond to our own consultation on alternatives to PCT.”

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said: “We have an excellent tradition of legal aid and one of the best legal professions in the world. But we cannot close our eyes to the fact legal aid is still costing too much. It is not free money, it is paid for by hard-working taxpayers, so we must ensure we get the very best value for every penny spent.

“Some lawyers earn hundreds of thousands of pounds from just one or two cases, and these cases can themselves cost up to £15 million each. And we’ve all heard of wealthy criminals with stashed millions getting legal aid to pay for their defence or of prisoners given legal aid unnecessarily.

To read more of Michael Turner’s message to members of the Criminal Bar Association, go to: https://www.criminalbar.com/latest-updates/news/q/date/2013/04/10/cba-message-wednesday-special-edition/

To read the Law Society’s consultation on PCT, go to: http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/stories/consultation-procuring-criminal-defence-services/

IT’s fair to say that reaction to Chancellor Osborne’s latest budget has been mixed.

Some have praised the Chancellor for sticking to his guns and refusing to bow to pressure, while others have accused him of attempting to do too little, too late.

Amongst the dissenters is John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, who said, while there was much for businesses to welcome in the Chancellor’s statement, he should have gone further to support enterprise and growth, by, for instance, scrapping increases in business rates.

He added: “We are at an unprecedented moment in our economic history, and the government should be doing everything in its power to get the economy moving.

“Many of the Chancellor’s measures are positive but may come too late, particularly for smaller and medium-sized companies. We need urgency, scale and delivery today.”

One of the constant cries from businesses, large and small, across the country is for a respite from the constant annual increases in business rates. Only businesses with premises of tiny proportions, little more than the size of a double garage, can hope for any relief from the burden of business rates.

However, the Chancellor’s plans to help the smallest companies increase their staff levels, by cutting their employer’s national insurance bills by £2,000 will give many of the smallest businesses a boost in confidence, at a time when they surely need it. The Federation of Small Businesses has welcomed the move, and claimed the Chancellor’s Budget had gone some way to restoring the confidence of small businesses.

The FSB claims the new housing initiative will help to reinvigorate the construction sector, where confidence has been low. It also welcomed the decision to scrap the planned 3p increase in fuel duty and plans for a new Business Bank that will help to provide much needed access to capital for small firms.

The Chancellor must have been encouraged by the latest employment figures, before he even started to speak, which revealed the actual number of people in work had increased by more than 130,000 to 29.7 million. However, this was tempered by the increase in unemployment, which rose by 7,000 to stand at 2.5 million.

The Barclays Libor scandal, the HSBC money laundering accusations, and now Standard Chartered gets punished

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Summer holidays are approaching, the Olympics are almost here and sunny weather could be on the way.  Your reserves may be running low after a busy year. You may feel like it’s time to close your computer and forget about your job for a couple of weeks. We all need precious time to wind down and re-balance our lives. However, this is also the perfect time to review your career plans and make sure you are moving in the right direction.

A recent Private Eye cartoon features an interview candidate fielding the question ‘You’re not on Facebook, what are your trying to hide?’

There’s truth beneath the humour. A recruiting manager noted her organisation’s concern that an otherwise strong candidate had ‘no online presence’.

The influence of social media in recruitment is increasing. For Facebook ensure your privacy settings are switched on, and that you avoid posting images showing you worse for wear after a night out!

At CareerBalance we are not given to hyperbole, but when the head of the Criminal Bar Association calls for strike action, it's time to say it loud and clear: the English Bar is in deep trouble. A steady stream of barristers is seeking the help of our career change and job search specialists.

You may be surprised by some of the findings for 2011 published recently In the National Management Salary Survey, published annually by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR).  The survey is based on the responses of over 38,000 managers from 160 organisations in the UK.

Simon Broomer, Director of CareerBalance talks about how an MBA can enhance your career