Ministers to crackdown on barristers ‘backhanders’ to solicitors

Ministers will today set out plans on outlawing “backhanders” paid by barristers to solicitors to secure cases.

So-called referral fee payments range from £100 to £2,000 and amount to tens of thousands every year.

The size of the market is unknown as they are already banned by professional practice codes but have increased in the wake of legal aid cuts.

A consultation paper will be published today aimed at ensuring those who can bid the highest secure cases.

The justice minister Shailash Vara said: “The payment of referral fees to secure instructions is unacceptable — which is why we want to change the law in order to tackle this issue.

“The guiding principle in advising clients on their choice of advocate must always be the competence and experience of advocate, rather than their willingness to pay a referral fee.”

Speaking to The Times, Franklin Sinclair, a solicitor at Tuckers, a criminal legal aid firm, said: “This is becoming more widespread in the context of fee cuts.

“It enables law firms to make a profit in these difficult times, but the worry is if they don’t act scrupulously and use advocates without sufficient experience.”

Ministers will also say that, in the future, criminal defence advocates from either branch of the profession will require to join a panel to ensure their level of expertise.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority said there were no data on the amounts changing hands “because it shouldn’t be happening”, while aspokesman for the Bar Council said it had called on the government impose a strict ban on fees.

Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, Mark Fenhalls QC, said: “If the public knew that there were these concealed fees, as for pension advice ten years ago, there’d be a stink.”