Mansfield Chambers Publishes Protocol For Criminal Work In Light Of Industrial Action

Mansfield Chambers Publishes Protocol For Criminal Work In Light Of Industrial Action

Mansfield Chambers stands at the forefront of the campaign to prevent the government’s wholesale destruction of the criminal legal profession and access to justice. This campaign is an industrial struggle, and can only be won through industrial action. Whereas each individual is free to make their own decisions, the collective effect of these individual decisions will carry massive weight.

Mansfield Chambers’ Crime Team supports the immediate return to “no returns” voted on by London barristers on 30 June 2015. We also act in solidarity with the resolution of solicitors on the same date. This position reflects the position of barristers across the country who have organised in their local areas in the absence of any meaningful national leadership. The CBA’s latest ballot, though welcome insofar as it may eventually spur the organisation into belated action, merely replicates the decisions of barristers up and down the country. To await its outcome is to unnecessarily delay matters. With a decision to restart “no returns” having already been taken in the London area (amongst many others), we each individually resolve as follows:

1. Not to accept any legal aid work with a representation order dated after 30 June 2015.
2. Not to accept any returns within or outside chambers, in line with the 2014 protocol on no returns, where the return comes to us after 4pm on 14 July 2015.
3. To immediately make arrangements for our professional duties to be complied with from the start of the “no returns” period.
4. Before 4pm on 14 July 2015, not to accept any returns from outside chambers where a “no returns” policy is already in place.

If there are any questions please do not hesitate to contact Martin Parker at Chambers on 020 7406 7550.