Counsel Magazine

The government has “gone back on its word and resumed its attack on the criminal Bar” the new Criminal Bar Association (“CBA”) Chairman Paul Mendelle QC has warned.

In a letter to The Times, Mendelle, of 25 Bedford Row, accused the government of “spinning the facts” in its proposals to reduce fees for criminal defence work. The proposals were presented “as correcting an anomaly in order to bring defence fees into line with prosecution fees. They are nothing of the sort and the spin disguises a naked attempt by the government to go back on its word.