Newark barrister Adrian Amer on why 80% of barristers across England and Wales are striking

Imagine you were accused of a monstrous crime you know you did not commit and you were brought before the criminal courts — you'd want the best defence barrister going.

But what if you were told they had only looked at your case, sometimes hundreds of pages long, the night before you were to appear in court? You'd be livid.

This, however, is normal in criminal proceedings as there just isn't the time, says barrister Adrian Amer, of Newark, who has been practising for 38 years and is striking along with eight out of ten barristers across England and Wales.

"The government is going to try and pretend that this is covid-related but it's not," he told the Advertiser. "There were loads of cases outstanding before covid hit and there are more now.

"When I'm prosecuting I'll have a rape victim ask me 'why has it taken so long to get to court?' having waited sometimes as long as two or three years.

"And I say 'I'm really sorry, but courts have been sold off, there aren't enough judges sitting, there aren't enough barristers like me to prosecute these cases' — and you can imagine a rape victim thinking 'my goodness what's actually happening?'

"It's bad enough a rape victim has to be cross examined two or three years after, and of course if there are lapses in their memory, it's very hard for a jury to properly assess them."

Mr Amer, who practises in courts across the East Midlands, Thames Valley and London, said the public assume criminal barristers are rich with massive detached houses and flashy cars — but that this is just not the case.

"My car is 18 years old and I live in a terrace house in Newark," he said.

"We [barristers] haven't had a respective pay rise in a considerable period of time, Legal Aid rates have been cut by nearly 40% over the last 15 years and we've had an average decrease in incomes on average by 28% over the last two decades.

"During covid 83% of us went into personal debt or used up savings to keep ourselves going as there was pretty much no government support.

"What worries me is I've been practising for 38 years and I've been there and done it, but young people aren't coming to The Bar because their average income is around £12,000 a year — below the minimum wage and unsustainable.

"People like me are giving up in droves because it's exhausting — we're working nights, weekends and giving up family lives, things that most people take for granted."

Mr Amer, who has covered every kind of case aside terrorism, explained The Bar's concept of a 'returns policy' and why his chambers had decided not to participate.

"It means we have withdrawn to take on other people's cases at a drop of a hat," he said. "Many senior barristers will be appointed to serious matters the night before because other people are jammed in court.

"As soon as you get the call at 6pm saying 'Mr Amer you're doing a rape case tomorrow', you think oh my word and you're up until 3am preparing it — it's real knife edge stuff and we're fed up of it quite frankly.

"There's no other job in the world that would work like this, even doctors don't work like this, but now is the time for the public to know what the real situation is.

"More than 80% of us voted to strike and we're very united on this — and people still ask me 'is anyone really going to care?'

"I say to them that if they became a victim of rape, they would care, if they became a burglary victim, they'll care, if they were assaulted in the pub on a Saturday night — they'll care."

He added because of the backlogs, potentially innocent people were sitting in prison awaiting their trial which could be up to six months or more into the future.

"It's a real misconception that when someone is arrested they are automatically guilty," he said.

"To have someone's trial delayed if they are innocent is just as bad as victims having to wait for their case to come to court.

"People need to know it could be them in this situation — it could be me, anybody, but it's only when you're involved yourself that you scream and shout for representation.

"And then if they can't afford Legal Aid, they have to pay privately or defend themselves knowing nothing of the law — which isn't in the interests of justice.

"Can you imagine what that situation would be like? It's just madness."

Mr Amer said if the striking situation was not sorted within a month or so that criminals will be running around the streets because the police are too highly overstretched and underfunded.

He said: "Morale is really low, not only among us practitioners, you can see it when dealing with witnesses and victims — it's getting to a really depressing state for everybody."

The strikes will last for four weeks and trials are expected to be postponed.

Barristers will walk out on Monday, June 27, and Tuesday, June 28, before increasing strikes by one day each week until a five-day walkout starts on July 18.