Talks aimed at averting strike action by barristers in Northern Ireland involved in a £40 million pay dispute will take place today.
Representatives from the Northern Ireland Court Service and the Bar Council will meet in Belfast in a bid to avoid the threatened boycott of cases by senior lawyers in the region.
Barristers could begin sending back solicitor briefing papers from tomorrow if the legal aid backpay issue is not resolved.
They claim the Court Service has still to pay them for cases they worked on almost nine years ago.
Among the cases that would be hit by a boycott are child protection hearings and a number of major criminal trials.
The wrangle involves payments related to Family Care Centre cases from 2000 and the top category of criminal cases - so called Very High Cost (VHC) hearings - from 2005.
The VHC cases involve criminal trials that last for more than 21 days.
Both the NI Courts Service and Bar Council have expressed hopes that a settlement can be reached without the need for strike action.
PA