THE STATE is a major consumer of legal services, and it has imposed a cut of 8 per cent across the board for all services, which will affect particularly those participating in the legal aid area, where rates are fixed.
But the cut can be much greater than 8 per cent from private clients, with some barristers reporting not being paid at all for the work they do. “People genuinely don’t have the money. Some are trying it on, but a lot just don’t have it,” said one senior counsel. He pointed out that barristers cannot sue for their fees.
All these pressures would result in a reduction in fees, he said, and in more flexibility, with agreements from barristers to accept phased payments. Another barrister, who said his fees were never high, reported clients looking for reductions.
Many barristers are also affected by the collapse in property and bank shares. For younger barristers, prospects are even grimmer, with tales of junior counsel hanging about Cloverhill court-house hoping to get a bail application, worth €30. A few years ago, each would have been doing a number of such applications a day.
The situation is made worse by the fact that part-time lecturing, the mainstay of many young barristers at the start of their careers, has dried up.
Perhaps the best indication of the crisis is that both the Bar Council and the Law Society are directing lawyers in distress to Law Care, a voluntary organisation based on London for lawyers in difficulties.