Justice minister launches legal jobs pay consultation

18/06/2008

The Justice minister, Lord Hunt, has launched a consultation paper on family law barristers' pay.

He is seeking views on fairer methods to pay barristers through the Family Graduated Fee Scheme so they receive similar rewards to solicitors.

"Currently barristers are paid more than solicitors for the same work in family law," he said.

"We want a fairer system where all lawyers are paid the same, regardless of whether the advocate has a background as a solicitor or barrister."

He has proposed to either reduce all payments under the scheme, abolish or reduce 'up lifts', which multiply barristers' fees, or withdraw some of the additional payments they currently claim.

Lord Hunt said he was seeking "the best value for money from the system so that we can help as many people as possible within the resources available".

His proposed changes will again be reviewed after a separate consultation on the single family advocacy scheme, later this year.

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