The ongoing legal aid dispute between solicitors and the Department of Justice may extend beyond criminal legal aid to affect those reliant on civil legal aid in domestic-violence, child-custody and access cases, family lawyers have warned.More than 30 family lawyers gathered outside Dolphin House District Court family law complex in central Dublin after meeting on Wednesday to discuss action over pay and civil legal aid reform.The meeting of solicitors and barristers decided to write to Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan demanding commitments over pay and reform within weeks. Solicitor Keith Walsh, who chaired the meeting, said there was “huge frustration” about no pay increase over 20 years, failure to progress recommendations for reform of civil legal aid and because family law is administered in premises “not fit for purpose”.Family lawyers see themselves as the “forgotten tribe” of legal aid when it comes to pay and resources, he said. “There was a real sense that people wanted to immediately down tools and walk out of Dolphin House and not come back.” The lawyers’ loyalty to their clients led to them deciding against taking such action immediately and they had asked solicitor Sandra McAleer, as their chief spokeswoman, to write to the Minister seeking prompt negotiations on a “proper level” of fee.The relevant private practitioner fee, introduced in 2006, was a ‘one size fits all’ fee that did not allow for adjournments, said Walsh. He expected the deadline for a positive response from the Minister would be before the legal year ends on July 31st, said Walsh. If there was no progress by then, it was “exceptionally likely” the practitioners would “consider other ways to voice their disappointment with the system”.Separately, the continued withdrawal of services by criminal defence solicitors over a new payment model for criminal legal aid cases in the District Court is set to escalate with a two-day action next week aimed at achieving near total shutdown of criminal courts across the country. Among the criminal trials unable to proceed on Wednesday was one at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court involving an accused charged with alleged historic sexual abuse offences.The trial was put back to October but the court asked to be updated on Friday in case of developments.Afterwards, the complainant, who travelled some distance for the trial, told The Irish Times it was “heartbreaking” it had not proceeded because there was no solicitor in attendance to represent the defendant. The legal process in his case had taken almost five years to date, he said. He did not know the “ins and outs” of the legal aid dispute but would like to see a resolution. “I don’t know if there’s enough sensitivity to the on-the-ground hurt of people like me.”Criminal defence solicitors began withdrawing services last month over strong opposition to the new fees payment model proposed by the Department of Justice and operational since July 1st. It introduced one flat fee of €520 per case, irrespective of the number of court appearances, replacing the previous model of €239.38 for a first appearance and €59.86 for each subsequent appearance. The withdrawal of services has intensified since July 1st and has meant the adjournment of thousands of criminal cases across all court divisions, creating additional backlogs.The Law Society has described the new payment model as “unworkable” and has sought “meaningful” engagement with the department about criminal legal aid reform. The Minister has said the old payment model was vulnerable to abuse and encouraged unnecessary adjournments, the new model is aimed at improving efficiency and reducing adjournments, and he said he was “not for turning” on the matter. The new model was devised following an internal review by his department that noted spending on criminal legal aid almost doubled from €19 million in 2015 to €37 million in 2024, despite a fall in the volume of cases. The review was criticised by the Law Society as “flawed” and based on out-of-date data.