Good Call - But Sad

One of my colleagues recently bade farewell to a well-known defence lawyer, who was making his last appearance in our court. He was respected by the Bench and the staff, and was unfailingly courteous and professional.
He's off to join the CPS, and although I shall miss him, I can't blame him.
He leaves a defence-lawyer community that is under unprecedented pressure from Government policies that have created a pincer movement, one jaw of which is political and the other financial. The two and three-partner High Street firms have no future, and their partners are considering their options. Some will retire, some will merge their firms, and some will join the CPS, which offers family-friendly work conditions and, above all, a gold-plated Civil Service pension.
Tony Blair spoke frequently of 'rebalancing' the justice system. What he really meant was that he wanted to skew the rules in favour of the prosecution and away from the defence. Here's one more piece in that nasty jigsaw.