This book offers a timely and detailed examination of the reality of
criminal legal practice today. Drawing upon extensive anonymous
interviews with criminal lawyers in England and Wales, it illuminates
how financial pressures arise within the criminal justice system and how
lawyers seek to navigate them.
The work of criminal lawyers is frequently depicted in the news and
media as exciting, well-paid and worthwhile, with prosecutors aiming to
convict the guilty and defence lawyers fighting against miscarriages of
justice. In contrast, the picture reported by many is of an already
creaking and under-resourced system, now exacerbated by fallout from the
COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, the book considers whether the
criminal legal aid system really can continue to provide those unable to
afford a lawyer with access to justice and whether the Crown Prosecution
Service can provide justice to victims of crime.
The book presents detailed findings about the work and experiences of
both prosecutors and defence lawyers, how financial pressures influence
this and to what extent this has changed with the new ways of working
brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.