Lawyers refusing to represent people charged with certain crimes amid pay crisis

Some solicitors in England and Wales are not taking on loss-making cases such as burglary amid MoJ dispute over legal aid, Law Society says

Lawyers are refusing to represent people charged with certain crimes amid a crisis over solicitors' pay, with one burglary suspect turned away by 12 legal firms, the Law Society president has said.

Richard Atkinson, who leads the organisation representing more than 200,000 solicitors in England and Wales, said its members lost money if they took such cases and warned that other crimes, including lower level sexual offences, also risked becoming uneconomic for practitioners.