• The Lord Chancellor is facing the prospect of a court challenge from the legal profession over his refusal to agree to a rise in legal aid rates of pay.

  The Bar has instructed a Queen’s Counsel to look at taking Lord Falconer of Thoroton to court for a judicial review of his failure to increase pay for the majority of criminal trials.

  The move comes as many barristers told an angry meeting on Tuesday night that they would turn down legal aid work because of the refusal for eight years by Lord Falconer to increase their pay rates. The action is likely to be supported by at least several hundred criminal barristers, although no formal vote or concerted action can be taken because that would breach competition rules and prompt inquiries by the Office of Fair Trading. Nearly 80 per cent of barristers support refusing the work, a recent survey by the Bar found.

  Lord Falconer recently agreed to review barristers’ fees in criminal trials lasting up to ten days as part of a bigger review of the £2.1 billion legal aid scheme. But barristers say that this will mean no increase in their pay for another year.

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