Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

Keeping the English Legal System under review

Posts Tagged ‘Lord Chancellor

New Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice: David Gauke MP

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In the good old days, Lord Chancellors came and went comparatively infrequently. Unlike their possibly more ‘political’ colleagues, Lord Chancellors seemed to float above the hurly-burly of day-to-day politics.

The reforms to the post of Lord Chancellor, introduced by the government of Tony Blair, resulted in major changes to the role and thus the office holder.

No longer did they have to be in the House of Lords. They no longer had to be professionally qualified as lawyers. In the last 2 and a half years, there have been no fewer than 4 Lord Chancellors.

The latest appointee, in January 2018, is David Gauke. Unlike his immediate predecessors, he is qualified as a Solicitor and has had experience of private legal practice.

I do not anticipate major changes of policy to arise from this new appointment. The Ministry of Justice is engaged in major programmes of work on the justice system, the prison system, legal aid – among others. What I think is needed is a period of stability to ensure that these important initiatives are actually delivered.

For further information see https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-justice

You can read the Lord Chancellor’s speech at his swearing in ceremony at https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/lord-chancellor-swearing-in-speech-david-gauke

You can see him deliver this speech at https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/announcements/live-stream-swearing-in-of-the-new-lord-chancellor-the-right-honourable-david-gauke-mp/

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Written by lwtmp

January 16, 2018 at 12:26 pm

Posted in Chapter 4

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New Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice: David Lidington MP

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Following the outcome of the General Election in 2017, the period of office of the first female Lord Chancellor, Lynne Truss MP, was brought to an end.

This was widely predicted, as there was a widely held opinion, especially among lawyers and the judiciary, that she had failed to gain the confidence of the legal profession. In particular, her failure to intervene to protect the independence of the judiciary when sections of the mass media attacked senior judges for upholding the argument that parliamentary authority was required before the formal process of the UK leaving the EU could begin, was seen as a lack of understanding of the Lord Chancellor’s obligations to protect the independence of th judiciary, set out in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. Lord Thomas, the current Lord Chief Justice, was particularly critical of this.

Truss’ replacement is David Lidington MP. He is another post holder who has no experience of the law. Under section 2 of the Constitutional Reform Act, non-lawyers must nevertheless be ‘qualified by experience’. What this phrase means in practice is proving hard to determine. Presumably the post holder should be someone who understands and is willing to uphold the independence of the judiciary – even where such independence may lead to decisions unwelcome to the Government of the day.

At present it is impossible to say whether the new appointee will turn out to be a more satisfactory appointment than his predecessor, though his previous experience as a Foreign Office Minister suggests that he may have a particular understanding of the importance of upholding the rule of law, and the function of the judiciary is the process.

For comments of the Lord Chief Justice to the Constitution Committee of the House of Lords see http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/constitution-committee/lord-chief-justice/oral/49312.pdf

For the Lord Chancellor’s speech at his swearing-in ceremony, see https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/lord-chancellor-swearing-in-speech-david-lidington

 

 

 

 

 

Written by lwtmp

July 8, 2017 at 2:44 pm

Revolution in the Justice system?

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On 23 June 2015, the Lord Chancellor delivered a major speech on his vision for the development of the Justice system. Mr Gove is not shy of taking on existing established practices – witness his battles with the teachers when he was Secretary of State for Education under the Coalition Government.

In his speech, entitled What does a one nation justice policy look like? he argues that the justice system is in need of fundamental reform if is it to deliver access to justice to ordinary people.

A potentially very important difference between what he was trying to do in the world of education and what he now seeks to do to the justice system is that for the latter, much of the initiative for reform is coming from the judiciary itself. They see the need for better use of court facilities, fundamental investment in IT which would enable much legal work to be done without attendance at courts, support for new ideas – in particular in civil justice – endorsing proposals recently set out by Justice in its report Civil Justice in an Age of Austerity. (see this blog, entry for 5 May 2015)

First reactions to the Lord Chancellor’s speech can be heard in a special edition of the BBC programme Law in Action which was broadcast on the same day. The discussion – by Sir Stanley Burnton, Dame Hazel Genn and Keir Starmer – provides a useful basis for understanding what may start to unfold in the justice system over the next five years

What is absolutely certain is that anyone starting the study of law should be aware of what is in the pipeline – things are likely to change pretty quickly.

To read the speech go to https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/what-does-a-one-nation-justice-policy-look-like

To hear the Law in Action Broadcast go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05zktnf#auto

The Centre for Justice Innovation, whose work is mentioned in the programme has a website at http://www.justiceinnovation.org/