The annual summer break taken by the courts cannot come soon enough for Minster for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and the solicitors who have engaged in withdrawal of their services in a protest about changes to the way they are paid for criminal legal aid work.Leaving aside the anachronistic nature of the “long vacation,” or partial shutdown of the court system for August and September, it will give both sides a chance to reflect on how they can resolve the impasse in which they find themselves. That is unless progress can be made at a meeting which is due to take place on Monday. Criminal defence lawyers have staged withdrawals of service several times in recent weeks causing considerable disruption to the working of the courts. They are due to do so again this week. The walkouts have intensified following the introduction of the new payment regime at the start of the month, leading to block adjournments in the District and Circuit courts.Under the new regime solicitors will get a flat fee of €520 for representing someone in the District Court. This replaces the previous system of a 239 fee for the first appearance and 60 for each subsequent appearance, which the Department of Justice believes created a perverse incentive for solicitors to string out cases.One voice that has yet to be heard is that of the solicitors’ clients who are in effect being denied access to justice by the dispute. Judges have warned, however, that solicitors who withdraw their services and do not make appearances on behalf of their clients are themselves in breach of the law.There are clear flaws in the per appearance model, highlighted by Department of Justice research. It shows that more than 30 cases in the last 18 months have each led to dozens of payment invoices. Another 100 cases involved at least 10 appearances on behalf of a client.However, the maximalist approach to resolving the problem adopted by the Minster for Justice gives him little scope to address the withdrawal of services by solicitors without appearing to climb down. It seems hard to credit that he did not anticipate their reaction. The solicitors, meanwhile, through their unnecessarily disruptive tactics, have raised the temperature of the dispute and choked up the entire system.The Minister has signalled that he thinks there may be some room to engage with the Law Society – which represents the solicitors – in relation to specific issues, leading to Monday’s meeting. One, highlighted by the solicitors, is the lack of flexibility in the new structure in cases which are known to be more time consuming. But O’Callaghan has also made it clear that he is not going back to the old system. The Minister may have to give some ground. But the solicitors must accept that the existing system has to be reformed.