The Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA) said the profession was being treated with contempt as it confirmed it will escalate its boycott of the government’s summary case management (SCM) initiative.

Writing to victims minister Siobhian Brown, Simon Brown, president of the SSBA, said: “It is becoming increasingly clear that the government has no intention of doing anything other than delay this issue until at the very earliest after the Scottish parliamentary elections in 2026 and no doubt beyond.

“It is equally clear that the criminal bar is under such strain that it may not last that long. Every week there is a steady drain of experienced practitioners either retiring or moving to other areas of law, and with the numbers of those doing this type of work at any meaningful level already well under 500 in the whole of Scotland, we are already at if not past the tipping point.”

Mr Brown said that “the level of procrastination shown by the government” was “contemptuous”.

“Even ignoring the fact that declining legal aid spend in real terms has been an issue since at least 2008, even in the time that has passed since issues were highlighted in the Martyn Evans report a decade later in 2018 nothing has been done,” he wrote.

“Since Covid we have had the Future of the Legal Profession Working Group which ended in December 2023, and since then we now have a Legal Aid Reform Discussion Paper rehashing the same old areas of concern, and promising yet another discussion group that has yet to have its first meeting.”

He added: “The reason for targeting SCM was that it provided perhaps the purest example of how crucial the work of the criminal bar is in making the system run efficiently, with virtually all the projected savings in court time and expense down to our early and meaningful interaction with clients.

“I can advise that this action will continue when SCM is introduced in Aberdeen Sheriff Court [on April 21], and there will also be similar days of action in those courts where SCM has already been trialled, namely Paisley, Dundee and Hamilton.

“I can also confirm that plans are in place to escalate this action in all courts with a longer term refusal to engage with SCM if there are no proposals for reform.”

In response to the criticism, Ms Brown said she would continue to engage with the profession.

She said: “We value the role of legal aid providers and I recognise improvement is needed to legal aid. That is why I have announced action to make the system simpler and easier for both solicitors and those who need legal assistance – along with longer-term proposals for funding and improving the delivery of services.

“This includes a review of legal aid fees.”