Paul Roach looks back with nostalgia on his days as a defence solicitor in his own practice. But he was forced to take a shocking course of action

The writing had been on the wall for some time. Having worked as a defence solicitor for 13 years, practising in London and East Anglia, on 30 September 2004 I closed my firm and then did the unthinkable.

During my time in defence I worked for a number of different practices, but for the final ten years I ran my own practice. Getting started could not have been easier; I simply rang the Legal Aid Board (as was), asked for an account, and by return I was practising.


I participated in a number of duty solicitor schemes and within a short period was busy, both advising detainees at police stations and representing defendants in court. Looking back, those were halcyon days. The focus was on the work in hand, and that meant representing those detained by the police or prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).


Without overstating the truth, those clients were sometimes vulnerable unfortunates at the mercy of the machinery of the criminal justice system.


This was a worthwhile function, and something of which a practitioner could feel proud. There was some administration, but it was negligible and somehow only ancillary to the important stuff - representing clients.


However, year on year, criminal practice became more difficult. First came standard fees, then the criminal franchise. Then the Legal Services Commission (LSC) replaced the Legal Aid Board, bringing with it a reforming zeal and the criminal contract.


We existed in a climate of constant change, being directed by an organisation that made the reduction of costs its predominant focus. As hourly rates remained static for years, I found criminal practice became stagnant. Like most practitioners, I grumbled, but was complicit in allowing these detrimental changes in.


Eventually, my vibrant legal practice that had provided employment and a service to the community was no longer a sensible proposition. It had existed for the final two years only because of my single-minded obstinacy. I would not let it die.


But on 8 November 2004 I took up a new position. I had reservations; but, as the days progressed, they have evaporated and I have found that the organisation I have joined is extraordinarily thoughtful in its practice of criminal law and benevolent in its employment policies.


This was a shock to the system. Of its practices, I shall generalise and say I now have coherent instructions and can make decisions without being solely driven by client instructions. And I can take advantage of freely available training (in three months, three courses over seven days).


My package includes a reasonable wage, flexi-time, five weeks' paid holiday a year and a real pension. There seems to be a culture of respect here, and that is refreshing.


I came to the profession in my 30s after an early life of casual labour on railway tracks and in kitchens and I remember my expectations. Not just expectations of service to the community and a better life for myself, but also of being someone, of being a solicitor.


So I found it particularly difficult to deal with the contemptuous treatment of solicitors by the LSC. I also found it hard to understand the lack of solidarity in the field of criminal defence. This the LSC has read correctly, and the end result will be competitive tendering.


So what was the unthinkable thing that I did at the end of last year? I joined the CPS.


Paul Roach is a prosecutor in Essex