Striking barristers will no longer have their names passed to a senior judge for consideration of disciplinary action by the regulator for non-attendance at court.
In a letter seen by the Gazette, the senior presiding judge, Sir Charles Haddon-Cave, has told the leaders of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) that the judiciary has stopped collecting data from court staff about barristers who fail to attend hearings during the protest over legal aid fees.
'It became clear that the data was incomplete and insufficient to allow for that proper consideration to take place,' the judge wrote. He said that he had stopped collecting the information on 8 July and 'all data previously collected has been deleted'.
The U-turn followed a meeting between Haddon-Cave and the chair and vice chair of the CBA, Jo Sidhu QC and Kirsty Brimelow QC, who expressed concern about the practice.
In June, 80% of specialist criminal barristers voted to stage an escalating series of court walkouts. Five days before the first walk-out, the lord chief justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, issued guidance to judges which stated that 'all cases in which there is non-attendance should be referred to the Senior Presiding Judge’s Office to consider whether to involve the Bar Standards Board'.
Separately, the Ministry of Justice sent a note to court staff asking for a record of cases that did not go ahead because of the action.
His guidance was met with an outcry by criminal barristers. The CBA made an official complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office accusing justice ministers of 'unlawful processing' of the personal details of striking barristers. Ministry officials stressed that they were not collecting the names of barristers; but only data on the number of cases affected.
Following the judicial U-turn, Sidhu said: 'We hope that seeing this letter will provide reassurance.' He said that the CBA was not aware of a single referral being made to the regulator.
CBA members are now in their fifth week of strike action. Alternating weeks of action have been scheduled for the next two months.
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