Plans for a shake-up in Scottish appeal courts have taken a further blow as another lawyers' body voted to boycott the proposed new service.
The Edinburgh Bar Association has joined the Glasgow and Falkirk Bar associations in agreeing that no member will accept instructions to conduct appeals in the new legally-aided Summary Appeal Court.
At present, appeals against conviction and sentence in sheriff courts are heard by High Court judges.
The change is intended to save High Court time with the appeals being heard by sheriffs
Following a meeting of the Edinburgh association, president Stephen Mannifield said the rates of payment proposed were considered derisory and insufficient to allow work to be done on a commercial basis.
Appeals are currently carried out by counsel or solicitor advocates.
The block fee for conducting a hearing in an appeal against sentence is £150 and £250 for appeal against conviction.
Under the planned Sheriff Appeal Court, the payment for an appeal against sentence, the vast majority lasting only around half an hour, could be £27.40 and appeal against conviction, £54.80 for the first hour.
Mr Mannifield said: "Sadly, the proposed rate of payment is such that it is not commercially viable."
He added that there was little if any appetite to appear in the Sheriff Appeal Court at the proposed payment levels.
He claimed that solicitors, particularly sole practitioners, based outside Edinburgh could face problems and could be unlikely to travel to Edinburgh, losing a day's business at their local court, while Edinburgh solicitors would be even less likely to want to appear for a proportion of what is said to be an already inappropriately low fee.
Mr Mannifield said the proposed changes would affect access to justice and a written response had been sent to the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament, through the Law Society of Scotland.
He said: "Counter proposals have been made which would still allow substantial cost savings to Parliament.
"Even though the reforms were designed to save High Court time, not money."
In its response the Glasgow Bar Association was equally scathing.
Ross Yuill, president GBA, said the proposals are unworkable and added the association "wishes to express its deep concern in relation to the level of payment to be made to those providing legal assistance and representation to appellants appearing in the new Sheriff Appeal Court".
"It is the view of our membership that the level of fees proposed are wholly inadequate, significantly undervalue the important and challenging work involved in preparing and presenting summary criminal appeals.
"The overarching concern is that the proposed fee structure presents a very real risk of impeding access to justice for those appellants who wish to secure legal representation to present their case."
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