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I think that is demonstrably false Phillip Hill.

The number of pupillages, in all areas, since 2002 has dropped, from 600 per year down to about 450. So the profession is growing by 150 less each year from 15 years ago. Tack on to this the fact that criminal pupillages only make up 13% and we see a drop from 78 to 58 criminal pupillages per year, in a profession with only 5,500 members.

It is also a recognised fact that those that leave the bar are far more likely to be from the criminal bar, in 2008, almost half of all barristers leaving the profession were criminal barristers (48%), falling to 36% in 2010 and the majority (63%) cited financial problems as the reason.

So I don't accept the premise of your argument.

I think the problem is that there is such a squeeze on both legal aid and solicitors that the remuneration for the work has not increased for a considerable period of time, and while back in the 1980s you might have earned exactly what I earn (I remember the 80s, earning £2 an hour was a good wage, petrol was 28p a litre) we are no longer in the 80s, and that is no longer a decent wage. It has now reached the point where it is barely livable.

A prime example is the fact that 10 years ago, someone doing a like job on legal aid, earned more than I did, not the same...more. Yet rent in London has risen by 34%, petrol prices have risen by about the same etc. etc.