Risk of lynch mobs as justice system ‘on edge’, Law Society chief warns

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People let down by a criminal justice system on the brink of collapse are at risk of turning to vigilantism, the new head of the Law Society has warned.

Richard Atkinson, whose group represents lawyers in England and Wales, said courts and prisons desperately need more funding to prevent a system breakdown that could ultimately lead to people taking “justice into their own hands”.

He said: “I don’t want to be too dramatic, but when people lose faith in the criminal justice system, there is a risk that they will seek to find justice in alternative ways – more direct ways.”

Atkinson, who took up the post earlier this month, also warned that the Law Society was considering taking the government back to court over a long-running dispute over legal aid fees.

Last week, the few remaining law firms providing government-funded criminal defense services threatened to leave without raising rates.

The UK is facing a prison capacity crisis and the government has twice been forced free a group of criminals earlier than planned in recent months, and years of cuts have left the judiciary facing significant backlogs.

Per capita funding fell in real terms by 22 percent between 2010 and 2023, according to the Bar Council.

Atkinson said there had been “very little direct dialogue” with the Treasury ahead of Wednesday’s Budget and that ministers had so far said nothing more than “warm words”.

“It’s not just people asking for a little more money – it’s a system on the verge of collapse.”

The justice sector is an “easy target” for cost-cutting, he said, acknowledging that the public is not necessarily “concerned about the number of legal aid lawyers who are struggling”.

Last week, England and Wales’ most senior judge, Baroness Carr, warned that the court system was “almost taken for granted, the envy of the world” and called for “sustainable, long-term funding”.

Atkinson said there was a risk that police would end up releasing more suspects because of a shortage of lawyers paid by the state to represent them, while victims and witnesses would “give up and not testify” because trials processes have been delayed for so long, he warned.

Authorities are in for a “really rude shock if they let it (the system) collapse,” he said, pointing to summer’s far-right riots as an example of how easily unrest can break out.

“I’m not saying it will happen,” he said. But “if you push people too far, you risk that happening.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper previously cited the state of the justice system as a contributing factor to the unrest, saying the rioters believed “they could get away with it.”

One area that has been particularly hard hit is legal aid, where spending has been cut. fell by 28 percent in real terms. According to the National Audit Office, over the past 10 years.

Last year, the Law Society filed a case in the High Court, warning that much of the work of representing criminal defendants had become economically unviable.

In a ruling earlier this year, the court found shortcomings in the previous government’s decisions when it decided not to implement the findings of an independent review that recommended a 15 percent rate increase.

Atkinson said the government has not yet said how it will respond. “If necessary, there is the possibility of going back to court, and we are very close to that,” he warned.

He said the funds needed were “paltry” in the context of public sector wages. And yet “there is a huge amount at stake.”

The Ministry of Justice said: “The new government inherits a justice system under enormous strain and a legal aid system facing serious challenges.”

“Criminal lawyers play an important role in our justice system,” the department said, adding that it was reviewing the findings of a report by the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Council.