Emmerson: Serious concerns about the safety and wellbeing of our members
The legal profession has expressed alarm after law firms and other advisory services were on a list of supposed targets for anti-immigration protests on Wednesday.
The details of 39 addresses across the country, said to have been spread via encrypted messaging platform Telegram and then onto other sites, such as X, were shared with the exhortation “They won’t stop coming until you tell them”, along with encouragement to “Mask up” for 8pm, with flame emojis.
One of the addresses was of Asylum Link Merseyside, which has decided to close the building temporarily and switch to remote working in the light “the threats of far-right violence made towards our centre this week”.
Smart Immigration Solutions in Peterborough, also on the list, said on Facebook that the police had informed it that “measures are in place if anything happens”.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “We deplore the violent scenes and rioting that we have witnessed across the past week.
“We have serious concerns about the safety and wellbeing of our members following names and addresses of a number of solicitors’ firms and advice agencies being shared on a list of targets for further protest and violence this week.”
He said he had written to the prime minister, Lord Chancellor and home secretary to ask that the threats be treated “with the utmost seriousness”.
“A direct assault on our legal profession is a direct assault on our democratic values and we are supporting our members who are being targeted.
“It is paramount that justice is done for all those who have been involved in, or are victims of, the riots.
“We commend the UK government for its swift response and want to see that the necessary support and resources are provided for both prosecution and defence lawyers, courts staff and judiciary in dealing with this emergency.”
Hazar El-Chamaa, chair of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association, said: “We stand in solidarity with migrants to this country, including those who have fled dangerous places to seek safety here, only to be met with violence.
“We stand in solidarity with those targeted based on their appearance.
“We stand in solidarity with all those who are supporting targeted communities, through the provision of legal and other services.”
Ms El-Chamaa called on the government “to create conditions in which we are able to perform our professional duties, including by representing and upholding the human rights of migrants and those targeted based on their appearance, without fear for our safety.
“Where our security is threatened as a result of carrying out our essential and proper function in a democracy, the government and law enforcement agencies should investigate and monitor threats to our safety.”
Meanwhile, in an open letter to Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood, Criminal Law Solicitors Association (CLSA) chair Daniel Bonich said it was “disappointed” that there had been no effort to talk to defence solicitors before floating the idea of 24-hour courts to help process protestors, as happened with the London riots in 2011.
He pointed out that, since 2011, more than a third of criminal legal aid solicitors have left the profession and a third of firms have closed, while legal aid rates have fallen by more than 30% in real terms.
“Firms have neither the capacity nor the resources to help staff 24-hour court sessions, even in the short term.
“They cannot afford to operate in shift patterns which means solicitors to work 24 hours, on top of their 24-hour police station duty, which, in the case of employees, would cause contract and employment law issues as well as seriously impacting on family life and their mental health wellbeing.
“Our members are an aging profession, many already working every hour under the sun. We cannot take any more.”
Mr Bonich declared that CLSA members were “not willing or able to prop up a failing system” and it would tell them to “think carefully before putting themselves and their firms at further risk by stepping into the breach once more”.
He stressed that the CLSA was “not seeking to be obstructive” but that it was time the criminal justice system was treated “with the respect that it deserves and not as some poor relative of the other public services”.
Meanwhile, the Law Society of Ireland has strongly condemned threats made against an immigration solicitor in Dublin who has faced threats of arson and violence.
President Barry MacCarthy, said: “The Law Society is concerned about the disturbing reports of threats and intimidation directed towards a solicitor who is merely fulfilling their professional legal duties.
“Legal professionals should be able to perform their duties without fear or harm. These alarming threats not only target individual legal professionals, but also undermine the very foundation of our legal system and the rule of law…
“Such actions are utterly unacceptable and represent a direct attack on the legal rights of individuals to seek representation and access justice. We commend the prompt action by [the police] when recent incidents of intimidation were brought to their attention.”
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