Defence lawyers in Edinburgh and Glasgow have voted to take industrial action in protest against planned changes to the legal aid system.
Members of the Glasgow Bar Association voted in favour of action over the introduction of financial contributions for people claiming legal aid in criminal cases.
Solicitors would be be given the task to collect the money from their clients, a move which the association argues would put them in the role of unpaid debt collectors for the government.
Holyrood's Justice Committee, which scrutinised the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assitance Bill, has also voiced its concern about putting the onus for collecting fees on solicitors.
But the Scottish Government says the reforms are designed to cut ?3.9m from the legal aid budget while ensuring justice remains accessible to all.
The Law Society of Scotland has said the Scottish Legal Aid Board should be given the responsibility of collecting payments, but the government says this is impractical.
Under the plans, anyone with a disposable income of ?68 a week or more would pay towards the cost of criminal legal aid.
The government says it will bring payments in criminal cases into line with the civil justice system and more than 80% of people applying for legal aid would continue to pay nothing.
It says the cost of legal aid, which amounted to ?157.2m in the last financial year, needs to come down.
Bernadette Baxter, president of the Glasgow Bar Association, urged the government to change course.
"There was a unanimous vote of the Glasgow bar in support of the proposition for industrial action should the current bill be passed unamended," she said.
"I understand that the Airdrie bar and Hamilton bar are also to vote and anticipate that their members will be at one with Glasgow and Edinburgh."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We cannot maintain the current legal aid scheme without making the savings in the Bill.
"We need to ensure access to justice is preserved for all, including victims of crime whose needs will be met by this Bill.
"Getting the Scottish Legal Aid Board to collect all contributions would reduce the level of savings to the taxpayers' purse that could be achieved from these proposals and would be impractical.
"Solicitors are much better placed to collect the relatively small contributions involved in most summary cases.
"The Bill will deliver up to ?3.9 million of savings on the legal aid budget, which will allow us to carry on maintaining the broad scope of legal aid in Scotland for those who need it most, protecting access to justice.
"This is in direct contrast to the situation we are seeing south of the border where the UK Government have made huge cuts to the scope of legal aid."
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