Thousands of barristers will walk out at courts in England and Wales today in a second day of action over government cuts to legal aid.

Proceedings at crown courts in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool among others will be hit by the action while hundreds of lawyers will also march on Westminster in protest at the government reforms.

Protesters will march on the Ministry of Justice to deliver a signed copy of the Magna Carta, the foundation of the judicial system.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling is pressing ahead with fee cuts for barristers and solicitors as part of a bid to slash £220 million from the legal aid budget by 2018/19.

Criminal Bar Association chairman Nigel Lithman said that if the cuts were not addressed the justice system "would cease to exist as we know it" and the public could no longer expect justice to be delivered.

"The Bar cannot and will not accept these unnecessary and crippling cuts and will continue to fiercely oppose them at every opportunity until our reasonable requests have been met with the appropriate levels of consideration," he said.

London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association president Nicola Hill said the cuts would mean that hundreds of law firms would go to the wall and sack experienced, more expensive solicitors, replacing them with cheaper, less qualified ones.

"This can only be damaging for justice," she said. "The solicitors who are still in business quite simply won't have the time, money or expertise to prepare cases properly.

"And it's the ordinary people, those we don't hear about, who don't make the headlines, who will have to accept third-rate advice. Not the wealthy, who can pay privately."

Meanwhile the government's cuts to legal aid for prisoners were challenged in the High Court yesterday.

Two charities - the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prisoners' Advice Service - are seeking judicial review of the changes, which they argue will undermine prisoners' rights and their chances of rehabilitation.

The organisations said they have taken legal action as a last resort after Mr Grayling dismissed their concerns and their arguments that the cuts will cost the taxpayer more.