Two men charged with robbery appeared without legal counsel in Supreme Court yesterday - and one blamed lawyers for boycotting legal aid cases.

Bennett Alexander Phipps, 19, and Kyle Tannock Williams, 21, both from St. George's, appeared for trial, but neither had been able to secure a lawyer.

The pair were charged with robbing Durnell Smith of his clothing and jewellery on August 9 of 2001. Both deny the charges.

Prosecutor Charmaine Smith told the court that she was prepared to proceed with the trial, but Assistant Justice Archibald Warner asked the two men why they were without legal representation.

Williams said he had applied for legal aid, but had not received a certificate yet.

Williams said: "I spoke to lawyer Edward Bailey and he said that he would represent me.

"Since then, I have applied for the prison officers to get in touch with him, but they said that he had not returned their calls."

Phipps said he had applied for legal aid and had been refused.

"I applied for legal aid and they sent me a letter in the mail, which said I had been refused," said Phipps.

"When I went into the office, they told me that the lawyers who did legal aid were having strife and confusion.

"Initially, I had Kim Wilson representing me until I had exhausted all of my funds, but I cannot afford to pay $500 an hour."

Assistant Justice Warner asked the prison officer to carry out inquires and adjourned the case for 15 minutes.

When the court returned, the judge adjourned the matter until the arraignments session on May 1, but warned the pair that if they returned without legal counsel, the case would go on. Both men were remanded in custody.

In mid February criminal defence lawyers began a boycott of legal aid cases, because they want Government to substantially hike up their fees.

Legal aid rates of $100 an hour have not changed since 1989, and lawyers want them raised to bring them closer to the fees paid in private practice, said defence lawyer Mark Pettingill.

The lawyers were seeking to have the legal aid fees raised to $300 an hour, which is thought to be close to what defence lawyers in private practice get paid.

There are around eight leading criminal defence lawyers who have decided that they cannot afford to do legal aid cases and have agreed not to touch legal aid cases until the rates were raised substantially.

Over the past few weeks they have been turning down new legal aid cases.

The Bermuda Bar Association agreed that legal aid rates were substantially below the the market rate and was preparing to make recommendations to Government.

It was understood the lawyers' decision was contributing to a backlog of cases waiting to come before the courts.