HCAs keeping advocacy fees in house has I think had a detrimental impact on the criminal bar. it's become harder for smaller, defence focused sets to keep the volume of work coming in which combined with legal aid cuts has made for a precarious existence for many. It didn't destroy the criminal bar but it was an additional nail in its coffin.
Also, HCAs are as a rule simply less good than the bar. accepting that and giving them full rights of audience nonetheless was the first step down a path that, if the government had its way, would lead to Serco / Tesco / Eddie Stobbart-law employees defending jury trials - remember QASA? That was fought off by those you would probably call gammony doom mongers. The government's response to the bar action last year was to threaten to replace the criminal bar by opening up full rights of audience to more HCAs and legal execs.
You haven't been proved right, it's just taken longer than people expected, thanks in part to the efforts and good will of the criminal bar to carry on and do the job in the face of ever increasing adversity.
Not sure if the turn on applies to soiled and abused riders too but a few years back there was a portrait series of the pros post Roubaix - Cancellara era. I’ll have a hunt and see if it’s still online.
HCAs keeping advocacy fees in house has I think had a detrimental impact on the criminal bar. it's become harder for smaller, defence focused sets to keep the volume of work coming in which combined with legal aid cuts has made for a precarious existence for many. It didn't destroy the criminal bar but it was an additional nail in its coffin.
Also, HCAs are as a rule simply less good than the bar. accepting that and giving them full rights of audience nonetheless was the first step down a path that, if the government had its way, would lead to Serco / Tesco / Eddie Stobbart-law employees defending jury trials - remember QASA? That was fought off by those you would probably call gammony doom mongers. The government's response to the bar action last year was to threaten to replace the criminal bar by opening up full rights of audience to more HCAs and legal execs.
You haven't been proved right, it's just taken longer than people expected, thanks in part to the efforts and good will of the criminal bar to carry on and do the job in the face of ever increasing adversity.