Research suggests 'solid support' for Criminal Bar Association's 'no returns' policy
Criminal law barristers returned 305 instructions in the first seven days of their 'no returns' protest against the legal aid cuts earlier this month, research for the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has suggested.
The research by barrister Richard Bentwood found that eight of the cases were picked up by Crown Prosecution Service higher court advocates, one by counsel and one by Greg Bull QC (on the insistence of the judge).
Of the remaining 295 cases, 240 were adjourned because of the lack of a defence counsel, in what has become known as a 'Grayling hearing', while 55 hearings went ahead without any defence counsel.
Bentwood found that these mainly consisted of fixing of timetables, setting trial dates or...
