“It was no coincidence that the Ministry of Justice chose to release details of the highest-paid legal aid barristers and firms at the same time as it unveiled its latest plans for a tendering system for legal aid work.

The unsubtle message is, ‘we’re tightening our grip on what we will shell out on legal aid, and if you want to know why,  just look at how much some of these lawyers are trousering’.

It is ironic, then, that the firms the Ministry of Justice has chosen to spotlight as high earners are following precisely the model that it favours – increasing in size, taking on high volumes of work and operating with maximum efficiency.”

Editorial – Law Society Gazette

“…Among the ordinary public, meanwhile, many people know little beyond an oft-quoted fact that a mere 6 per cent of reported rapes end in a conviction.  But as a thoughtful government review, published today, points out, constant repetition of this figure – usually for the purpose of indicting an allegedly failing police and criminal justice system – is unhelpful to victims and society alike.  It is a good example of a “fact” that generates more heat than light.

As Baroness Stern's report explains, this low figure refers only to the percentage of complaints received by the police that end in a conviction. About 60 per cent of those actually charged with rape are indeed convicted by the courts. This latter figure radically changes the standard portrayal of a justice system that is routinely failing women and all too often treating the victims as if they had “asked for it”.”

Leader - The Independent

The Stern Review

A guide to injustice: something must be done – anything in fact, to raise rape conviction rates

Professor Jennifer Temkin rides again: devious barristers and ignorant judges