'Fat cat' lawyers to have aid fees cut

LAWYERS who earn £500,000 a year from legal aid cases are to have their income cut drastically.

The Lord Chancellor was today unveiling the move as part of a plan to slash £140m from the annual £1.1bn criminal legal aid budget. QCs and solicitors who make the most money from the scheme are the main target of the long-awaited overhaul.

But lawyers are warning that the Government's plans will trigger anger among barristers who are already thinking of taking strike action over their pay rates for longer trials. Today's shake-up of legal aid will concentrate on high-cost trials, the 1% of criminal cases that absorb 49% of the budget.

The package will also include plans to cut £15m from the fees lawyers earn from working on cases in which the accused pleads guilty or on trials that collapse at the last minute because the defendant switches the plea to guilty.