Striking criminal lawyers warn innocent people could go to jail if the Government refuses a hike in legal aid fees for defendants.
More and more are abandoning defence work as payments have not risen in 26 years, leaving some on less than the minimum wage.
New junior barristers take home around £12,200 a year in the first three years of practice, says the Criminal Bar Association.
This compares to early career salaries of £100,000 in areas like corporate law.
Legal aid work, where the Government pays for lawyers for the poorest defendants, makes up 74% of all income in criminal law, where most barristers are self-employed.
The Criminal Bar Association says 22% of juniors, who can earn as little as £88 a day, have left the sector since 2016 and 300 specialists alone left in 2021. Some of the 2,400 left are taking on second jobs.
Barristers, who began striking last week, fear innocent people could be jailed, with fewer experienced lawyers around.
Zayd Ahmed, 27, has to top up his 50-hour week as a criminal barrister by doing overnight legal shifts at a London police station.
His basic income is £20,090. On Wednesday, he earned £50 for a court case that took up around five hours of his day.
Zayd, raised by a single mum cleaner, has won all his seven Crown Court cases this year as a defence barrister. He said: “I went into law to stop miscarriages of justice. You don’t do this for the money, but you expect to be able to survive.”
Victims could also be left waiting years for justice as the 58,000 backlog of Crown Courts cases grows.
Jo Sidhu QC, CBA chair, said: “Hundreds of trials have been postponed at the 11th hour as there aren’t enough barristers. It is only going to get worse as hundreds more leave.
“It is a myth that criminal barristers are from privileged backgrounds. Most I know hail from ordinary families. If we keep haemorrhaging barristers it also means we’ll lose women and people from minority backgrounds who can’t survive.”
A legal aid review recommended a 15% minimum fee rise, but CBA members want 25%.
They began a four-week series of strikes last Monday, refusing to attend hearings or take on cases for 48 hours.
The walkout will rise by a day a week until a five-day strike from July 18. The Justice Ministry has revealed fees would get a 15% uplift from September, claiming criminal barristers would be an average of £7,000 a year better off. But the CBA says the rise will only apply to cases already under way.
