Only in Cameron Conservative Britain. There the government wants to 'reform' the legal aid system to set defence counsel against their clients by making it lucrative for lawyers to enter guilty pleas as early as possible. Legal aid lawyers will also lose money if cases actually go to trial.
The London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association (LCCSA), which has examined revised fee figures ...says that a pattern of perverse financial incentives will affect both magistrate and crown court cases.
'A clien pleading guilty to a standard actual bodily harm charge in crown court will earn their lawyer as much as a 20% fee increase,' the LCCSA said. 'There are some cases in crown court where a quick guilty plea will earn a lawyer a 75% fee increase.'
Perfect, give your defence lawyer a financial incentive to toss you to the wolves. Only in post-Thatcher Britain and, yes, it's a pity.
