The final instalment of Sir Brian Leveson's review on how to tackle the criminal courts crisis will be published tomorrow, justice secretary David Lammy told MPs this morning.
Lammy is already pressing ahead with controversial reforms inspired by part one of the Leveson review to restrict the right to a jury trial. Part two of the Leveson review will focus on recommendations for more efficient processes in the Crown court.
Appearing before the Commons justice select committee last year, former Queen's Bench Division chief Leveson confirmed that part two will contain a chapter on legal aid remuneration, telling MPs that youngsters need to be encouraged into becoming criminal law solicitors and barristers.
Read more
‘If you look at the statistics for the number of criminal legal aid solicitors, there are some who start young and there are some very old ones. The old are dropping off and the young are moving on and doing other work. They are getting involved in public inquiries and regulatory work, both of which are rather better paid than crime, so we certainly need to look at the way in which crime and criminal work is remunerated, because it is a critical part of our system,’ Leveson said.
As well as confirming publication of part two of Leveson's review tomorrow, Lammy told MPs today that the proposals to curb jury trials will be permanent.
2 Readers' comments