IF Doug Marr ("It is high time we rebalanced the scales of justice", The Herald, November 2) did walk into a sheriff court he would find one other thing unchanged since 1994 – the rate legal aid lawyers get paid. Certain criminal legal aid rates have not gone up for 25 years and the legal aid budget, which stood at £132 million in 1994-5 was set for 2016-17 at £127 million.
These cuts have a serious effect on the running of the court system and the ability of people to get access to justice. This is shown in a Ministry of Justice report published this week which revealed that legal aid cuts for family law (in England and Wales) had not had the intended effect of driving parties into mediation but rather had clogged up the courts with vast numbers of unrepresented parties leading to increased delays and costs.
I do not do legal aid work but have nothing but admiration for the hard-working professionals who do. I wondered why an educated ex-headmaster like Mr Marr would claim to be intimidated by “lawyers mumbling scarcely audibly” – could it possibly be because, unlike columnists, they have to back up their opinions with facts?
Stewart Rennie (solicitor),
59 Mosshead Road, Bearsden.
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