David Ford - Legal Aid Cuts / TheDetailTV

BY BARRY MCCAFFREY

Justice Minister David Ford is currently embroiled in a bitter aid row with Northern Ireland's lawyers refusing to rule out the possibility that he will bring in British lawyers if local defence counsel refuse to accept Legal Aid cuts. Mr Ford insists that lawyers have to accept their share of cuts as part of a huge reduction in public spending.

However, one of Northern Ireland's leading barristers questions whether there is an ulterior motive to the dispute and raises concerns that it is an attack designed to destroy the independence of the local justice system and replace it with a two tier American style public defender system.

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