DoJ Urged to Publish Burgess Findings A Year Since Commencement

One year since the commencement of the Fundamental Review into Criminal Legal Aid in October 2023, the Bar of Northern Ireland has called for urgent publication of the findings and recommendations of His Honour Judge Burgess, which were provided to the Department of Justice in August 2024.

The Bar of Northern Ireland welcomed the commencement of the Fundamental Review one year ago. It came at a time when the Department had repeatedly breached its obligation to undertake successive statutory reviews and when the Criminal Legal Aid system was already demonstrating acute failings and unsustainable strain.

The Bar engaged with the independent review process across 2023/24, provided an interim submission in April 2024, followed by a full submission in July 2024, as well as providing data, figures, and information pertaining to the practice at the Criminal Bar as and when requested to do so.

Chair of the Bar of Northern Ireland, Donal Lunny KC detailed the lack of transparency around the findings of the Review and an absence of engagement on a way forward:

“The Bar of Northern Ireland worked in good faith and on a constructive basis with His Honour Judge Tom Burgess across the review period. And it was our experience that Judge Burgess conducted the Review in a spirit of inclusivity and collaboration, applying his deep knowledge of Northern Ireland’s criminal justice system.

“Despite the Department receiving the Review findings and recommendations from Judge Burgess in August 2024 and one year since its commencement, the Department has refused to publish the Burgess Review, is unable to provide a deadline for doing so, and has failed to engage on any aspect of the Review outcomes or recommendations.

“Understandably, this is a source of deep frustration and intense dissatisfaction for barristers practising at the Criminal Bar who, along with our Solicitor colleagues, are an integral component of the criminal justice system. That system is reaching a crisis point, not least because lawyers are expected to work for Legal Aid rates which have, when adjusted for inflation, plummeted by between 47% and 58% since 2005.

“Additionally, and significantly, barristers continue to struggle under the financial pressure of the Department’s policy of applying delays to payments owed to practitioners for legally aided work. Payment delays were on a trajectory to reach 24 weeks last year, making legally aided work financially non-viable for many barristers, particularly younger and female barristers, driving skilled experts into other practice areas and often driving them out of the Independent Referral Bar altogether.”

Donal Lunny KC continued: “The approach of the Department of Justice in refusing to publish the Review is completely at odds with that adopted in our neighbouring jurisdictions. The Ministry of Justice in England & Wales adopted a transparent approach to the Bellamy Report, promptly publishing its findings to all stakeholders and engaging in an open discussion of the future of criminal legal aid. Similarly, the Roberton Review in Scotland, examining regulatory reform, was shared with the legal profession the day after it was submitted to the Justice Directorate.”

“One year on from the commencement of the Burgess Review the message of the Bar of Northern Ireland is clear and delivered with urgency: the system of Criminal Legal Aid provision is reaching a crisis point. The goodwill of the profession, which appears to have been taken for granted by the Department, is exhausted.

“The Department must now adopt a transparent approach, publish the Burgess Report within days, and begin to work with the legal professions and other stakeholders on a sustainable way forward; a way forward that protects assess to justice for all citizens and ensures that Criminal Legal Aid, which is both an essential part of the Welfare State and essential to ensure the Rule of Law, is fit for purpose.”

ENDS

Media contact

Sinead McIvor – 07701 302 498