Tuesday Truth

How to Respond to an Austerity Apologist.

By Ali Parker, Saunders Law.

 

The American film-maker and writer Michael Moore once wrote a brilliant chapter called “How to talk to your conservative brother-in-law”. Today, I will attempt to mirror that by talking to our chief opponents, namely those citing the need for austerity in legal aid spending.

 

The general election is in 11 weeks. It is high time to lay to rest the myth that further cuts to criminal legal aid is going to help the UK repay its debts. It makes me smile just to type out that theory. To state the obvious:

 

1)      We have already endured hugely disproportionate austerity, and this started long before the financial crisis of 2008,

2)      The amount of money being saved from us is so tiny in relative terms, it is like trimming your contents insurance by a tenner when you owe £75,000 in credit cards.

 

The golden rule: We must let no one tell us about austerity. We are austerity. We live it, we breathe it, we embody it.  Here is why:

 

Because austerity is no fee increases since 1997, during which inflation eats away at your profit margins, finally stagnating and then downgrading your salaries.

 

Because austerity is £172million actual savings since 2012/3, way ahead of Mr Grayling’s scheduled £215million savings by 2018/19. Have you noticed he doesn’t mention that number anymore?  See, now you’re getting it. Keep reading.

 

Because austerity is having no pension, no savings, relying on travel expenses and payday becoming an aspiration not a fixture. At the same time, the ‘too big to fail’ bank that refused your overdraft extension has not repaid its multi-billion government bailout but its senior officers still get seven figure bonuses. 

 

Because austerity is having a spiralling tax bill but no disposable income, whilst the newly-appointed Solicitor General invests his savings in ‘Invicta Film Partnership No 25’, a scheme which was absolutely ‘not an attempt to avoid tax’. (I imagine his IFA had no idea about the tax break on this, so they just discussed the weather, the Big Society, things like that).

 

Because austerity is when the litigator fee for the entire work in preparing a 4-day trial for Assault occasioning ABH is less than the cost of a ticket to the Global Law Summit.

 

Because austerity is telling your lender that you've lots of exciting complex cases on, but no control over how much they're worth and, oh yes, the waiting time for these trials is now about 18 months.

 

Because austerity is a solicitor rushing from her home in Milton Keynes to reach a deserted iron barn AKA a ‘Metropolitan police custody centre’. Neither the solicitor nor the Met police is valued highly enough to afford real London property.

 

Because austerity is standing in the dark and drizzle outside one of these deserted 'custody centres' with a hole in your shoe and an out-of-date Snickers for your dinner (which was called a Marathon when you last got a pay rise).

 

Because austerity is duty solicitors now typically earning half the wage of London tube drivers, for no other reason than the latter know how to unite and to strike. (that’s a compliment, they deserve it).

 

Because austerity is shopping around for an expert witness who still dabbles in legal aid out of academic curiosity.

 

Because austerity is handing a carefully-worded Basis of Plea to a ‘Prosecuting case worker’ who pretends to know what it is, but then asks whether you are pleading guilty or not.

 

Because austerity is hearing that a Court interpreter was refused entry to Leicester Magistrates’ Court last week because he was so drunk. Quite literally out-sauced.

 

Because austerity is passionately applying for an adjournment to your trial, but being secretly relieved when it’s refused because at least your case might actually end, so you can bill it.

 

Because austerity is being told that external photocopying is capped at 5p per page, and the 28 lever arch files, plus tabs and dividers are  'general office overheads'. Never before did 'BYOB' mean 'bring your own binders'.

 

Because austerity is the fact that in legal aid these days, a ‘company car’ is actually when the entire company operates from inside a car.

Because austerity is knowing that if every public sector had endured what we have, there would have been (a) mass rioting and (b) a UK budget surplus roughly the size of Qatar.

 

Because austerity is seeing the careers advisor's patronising smile as he says 'Now, have you really thought that through?'

 

Because austerity is being a trainee solicitor and so losing your minimum salary rights just after your tuition fees got trebled.             

 

Because austerity is trying to explain the benefits of legal aid work to a promising student but you can see her thinking 'Poor chap, I suppose it's too late for him'.

 

So when people glibly say legal aid lawyers need to adapt in line with 'austerity', we must reply: "Well, you either can't read, or can't count. We are austerity's blue-eyed boy, you utter pillock" (those last three words are optional but usually deserved).

 

Please, to all 'austerity' apologists out there with half a brain - enough of the fatuous comments about the 'bigger economic picture' as if you work for the UK Treasury. You don’t. Read the facts. Do the maths. You are supposed to be too smart to fall for this tosh. You are letting your justice system down.

 

The Tuesday Truth is that despite our campaigns, our principled rhetoric and our sabre-rattling about strikes, during this Parliament legal aid lawyers proved more austere than Mr Grayling could ever have dreamed of, and more efficient than attaching a waste disposal unit to his chin.

The Tuesday Truth

The Global Law Summit v Not the Global Law Summit

Karl Turner MP Shadow Solicitor  General

I will not attend the hypocritical Global Law Summit even if they’d asked me, which in fact they did

The 23^rd February marks the start of the Global Law Summit in London with the pretence of commemorating 800 years since Magna Carta and the introduction of the rule of law in Britain. The actual anniversary falls in June, however the Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling has brought the event forward, to just before the election to try and make political capital out of the anniversary. It also marks the point at which the Government will be beyond satire when it comes to Justice. The hypocrisy of a Coalition Government that wants to extol the virtues of British Justice whilst at the same time dismantling the Legal Aid system and systematically restricting access to the Courts is astounding.

Given the Coalition Government’s sell off of Royal Mail I thought that perhaps my invitation may have been lost in the post. I do however have it on the highest authority that I was in fact sent an invite, nevertheless, I will not be attending as I cannot abide the falseness of the proposed event

The event is designed to showcase British Justice to the world, but at prices of up to £1,750 for a ticket, only the rich and well off will be able to attend. This is a perfect reflection of this government’s out of touch attitude. A telling giveaway of the event’s real intention to “facilitate business networks and access to key industry decision makers”. So the event isn’t about the celebration of British Justice, it is a schmooze-fest aimed at connecting rich commercial lawyers with big business and politicians.

This government’s approach to the rule of law is completely contrary to the values with which Magna Carta is associated. This week saw the Criminal Justice Bill receive Royal Assent in Parliament. The Bill aims to severely curtail Judicial Review, the measure with which civil society can use to challenge Government decisions. Again, this is another assault on the rule of law which should not go unnoticed and should not go unchallenged.

Instead of this sham event, I will be attending the real deal the ‘Not the Global Law Summit’ whose events include a march from Runnymede to Westminster, a protest outside Parliament and a ‘Stand Up For Legal Aid Event’.

Magna Carta declares that “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or justice”. If we look at the Coalition government, they have done exactly that.

I cannot in good conscience attend an event that goes against everything the rule of law stands for. The Global Law Summit will be attended by people being used as Chris Grayling’s patsies, I hope that they can see the hypocrisy of the event and stay away. I will not hold my breath.    

Dinah Rose QC; Leading Civil Rights lawyer

David Cameron: “Magna Carta , ooh I know this one , err is it…? No just give me minute, um, oh I had it a second ago, err no, no, I give up . What is it? ” 

“This Government has eviscerated legal aid, restricted judicial review, and proposes massive increases in court fees which will bar the door of the Court to most people in this country. Now it says it wants to celebrate Magna Carta. It must be assumed that, as David Cameron admitted on American TV, it doesn’t understand what Magna Carta means.”

Camilla Graham Wood: Young Legal Aid Lawyers

Can’t go won’t go

“Grayling's cuts to legal aid and changes to judicial review have shown how little he knows or cares about the need for everyone to have access to justice irrespective of wealth, and the importance of holding the State to account. These are values which can be traced back to the original Magna Carta. The fact that Grayling is leading the sham celebration of 800 years of Magna Carta at the Global Law Summit - which incidentally not one single Young Legal Aid Lawyer, or legally aided client, would be able to afford to go to  - whilst decimating access to justice, is an affront to this history and to the Rule of Law."

Bill Waddington: Chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association

Access no areas

“800 years ago the Magna Carta laid down the foundation stones of the Rule of Law, a system of Justice with access to all. Since then our system has been exported to most parts of the world. In 2015 the Lord Chancellor's demolition squad moved in to prevent a huge proportion of the population from having access to Justice by unsustainable cuts to civil and criminal legal aid with more to come, Court closures with more to come and extravagant hikes in Court fees, preventing all but the very rich from access to Justice and representation . There is no better example of this than the cost of the tickets for the Global Law Summit, priced at £1750 per head).  At £1750 per head, we surely now have the most expensive Global Law Summit in the world. ”

Jon Black: President of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association

Timesharing Magna Carta 
 

“There is a time and a place to sell the UK and its legal system. At a time when austerity measures are causing widespread suffering this is no time to show off, particularly using Magna Carta, the cornerstone of our system of rights as a vehicle for doing so. If the Magna Carta was such an important theme of this conference and our legal system something of great pride, we would expect the MOJ to be inviting their overseas guests inside our court rooms so that they could showcase our modern and progressive justice system that they are seeking to sell. The reality is they know how embarrassing it would be to see courts not sitting, defendants unrepresented, and the slow delivery of prisoners alongside disillusioned lawyers, probation officers and judges. Like timeshare salesmen they will only allow the show homes to be viewed. At least the translators accompanying delegates may be available at short notice to fill in for the absent interpreters at court. 

Rebecca Herbert Barrister and Committee member of the Criminal Bar Association

Standing up for justice not sitting down at the Global Law Summit

I can’t speak to historical accuracy, but the fact is, Magna Carta has become synonymous with rights. Most particularly it has come to symbolise the empowerment of the weak by allowing their unfettered access to the protection of the law, and a guarantee that discrimination in favour of power, riches or influence has no place in our Courts.  This is true cause for celebration.

That this celebration has been cynically hijacked by this government, this Lord Chancellor, at this time, whilst unsurprising, given its record for hypocrisy and cant, is about as unsavoury a political spectacle as one can conceive – and let’s face it, it’s a high bar. This government has done more than any before it to obstruct access to our Courts by those in society most in need of them; it has done more than any before it to wrongfully assert its power against those who would challenge it; and what is more, it is utterly unrepentant, even triumphant about that. Some, more forgiving than I, might say that the Lord Chancellor has no idea what he does:  I refuse to give him such allowance. If he does not know, it is because he has wilfully refused to listen, but I accuse him of more than that failure, and remind him and his acolytes of this;

“Once you've built the big machinery of political power, remember you won't always be the one to run it”. (P.J.O’Rourke)

So, no, I will not be part of party political back slapping at £1750 a ticket, for the great and the good, to congratulate themselves on the money to be made out of my legal system. I will not celebrate the reductions in legal aid, the destruction of judicial review, the annihilation of the Criminal Bar, and of scores of solicitors, the devastation wreaked upon my colleagues in CPS, probation, prisons and police. I will stand up, as should we all, with the Justice Alliance, in protest at the mockery made of our cherished values, as Mr Grayling and his friends applaud each other at the GLS.

Nicola Hill: Partner at Kingsley Napley

You only had one thing to do…

What a shame that the Lord Chancellor has taken something as important as the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and used it for political advantage; celebrating four months early in advance of a general election. A shame but not a surprise. This is the Lord Chancellor who has destroyed the one precious thing he was charged with protecting: the rule of law.

 

 

Russell Fraser: Chair Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers

The rule of law is not for sale

The Global Law Summit is the true face of this government, its friends, and what it holds to be important. It is a gathering for big business and is intended to promote London as the legal forum of choice for the super rich. Not the Global Law Summit provides the last chance to protest against this government’s destruction of publicly-funded legal advice before the general election. The hypocrisy of the GLS which masquerades as a celebration of Magna Carta and the rule of law while simultaneously denying access to the courts to vast numbers of people should not be lost on anyone. It is vital that everyone who has opposed the government’s wrecking of legal aid comes together on 23 February.

 

Hester Russell: Partner at Harthills Solicitors and CLSA Committee Member 

Magna Carta for all

I was raised in Hereford, home of the Mappa Mundi and, of course, a 1217 version of the great Magna Carta. For me Magna Carta is not about Global Leaders or International Businesses; it is about individuals, it is about fairness, it is about equality and it is about justice:-

"To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice".

If, like me, you recognise the irony of the £1,750 per ticket, Government Backed "Global Law Summit", exercise your democratic rights and join the Justice Alliance in standing against this revolting hypocrisy.  

Rhona Friedman: Co-founder of Justice Alliance

From Magna Carta to market   

One definition of a summit is a meeting of high-level leaders, usually called upon to shape a programme of action. What programme could emerge from the Global Law Summit? It can’t be a programme to improve access to justice and freedom of speech for ordinary people in the countries sending representatives to the event because otherwise panel sessions would have been addressed by a plethora of legal aid experts and civil rights lawyers from the UK and abroad. We may also have seen an entire session devoted to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which if it becomes treaty law will create secret courts, hearing cases in which transnational corporations will sue elected governments, reaching secret judgment completely outside the reach of the rule of law.  

So no programme of action on rule of law issues then but instead a “valuable opportunity to meet and do business” according to the Summit’s co-chair.  Do business leaders really need the rule of law to flog their products? I’m not sure they do otherwise the Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan wouldn’t have been invited. You can read about that country’s attitude to the rule of law here:

http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/kazakhstan

The first morning of the Summit starts with a key note address by the current Lord Chancellor, the two year report card on his attitude to access to justice and state accountability, both guarantors of the rule of law, has been well and truly marked by others. Lord Green was until the recent excitement due to have appeared alongside him on the platform. He was boss of HSBC when the rule of hiding assets from the tax authorities and from criminal justice apparently took precedence over the rule of law.
 

After the key note speeches comes panel session one Business and the Rule of Law. The Chair of BAe Systems has been chosen to sit on this panel which may be sensible scheduling by the organisers because he can be asked questions about how in 2010 the rule of law in the UK and US cost his business nearly £300m in fines for criminal behaviour. BAe Systems set a UK record for a corporate criminal fine which may or may not be what the organisers had in mind when they themed the event around “Law at the heart of 21^st Century Business.”     

It is clear that Magna Carta and the rule of law have been plastered on to this jamboree as mere branding stickers for the event. Why don’t they just drop the pretence and be unashamedly direct in their direct marketing and call it what it is: “The London Law Marketplace”? Not the “Davos of law” but speed dating with nibbles for corporate lawyers queuing up to speak to a man (they will mostly be men) who knows a man who is close to the Big Man who wants to sell off a state asset or enter into a contract for telecoms or buy riot control equipment to quell those pesky campaigners at home who want rule by law founded upon the rule of law.  

Justice Alliance is heartened that so many people – lawyers and non lawyers, have seen through the artifice and have spoken out against the hypocrisy of the Ministry of Justice co-hosting this event at a time when the government has embarked upon an unprecedented attack on access to justice and civil liberties.

From 21^st February onwards we will be holding King John Grayling to account not with the military threat of the barons but with people speaking truth to power, accompanied by 13th Century tunes, some capering fools and most importantly Magna Carta.   Join us either on our Relay for Rights on the 21^st –to the morning of 23^rd February or at Not the Global Law Summit from 1pm at Old Palace Yard, Westminster.     

Please see our website for more details.    

https://justiceallianceuk.wordpress.com/not-the-global-law-summit/

 

 

 

 

  

The Tuesday Truth

When I started the Tuesday Truth I hoped it would become a weekly blog for Solicitors to provide experiences of working at the coalface of Criminal Justice. I did not want it to be a weekly attack on the government or the bar or both. I have tried, but have succumbed to the former this week, but not the latter.

Solicitors are entitled to be heard more, their contribution to the criminal justice system is invaluable. Going to the police station at all hours often for many hours to protect the rights of the individual is of immeasurable value in terms of how a case or investigation is dealt with.

When I was an Articled Clerk I was accused by a police officer of intimidating a client into making no comment when he really wanted to co-operate. I was accused of perverting the course of justice.

The police conducted a formal investigation, I was interviewed under caution, my firm instructed Counsel. I became the client, 9 months into my training contract having spent the first 8 months in Conveyancing and Probate (living the dream) No further action was taken, my employers then and now made a complaint and I received a formal apology confirming there was never any evidence against me.

What shocked me about the whole process which was very unpleasant is that one officer made a statement where he said I had leaned towards the suspect in an intimidating way in the interview. Anyone who knows me will know that my two 4 year old daughters can take me, and when I play 5 a side football I get frightened if there is a fight in another match on another pitch.

This though was a formative experience in my development as an Articled clerk and indeed as a person who recognised that if the police could turn on the legal representative in this manner then what hope did the suspect have.

Many expert criminal defence barristers will say the most important part of the client’s defence is what he or she said at the police station. This is why really it is a disgrace that a solicitor with over 25 years experience gets paid the same for acting for a client as a paralegal who is accredited. If you are accused of murder who would you rather have?

25 years ago there were no adverse inferences at police station interviews, it was no comment all the way if you had any doubts, now there are several inferences that can be triggered, bad character interviews and the rest and still of course police officers who tell clients that it is the solicitor who holds everything up and it will be much quicker to go ahead without.

Of course we go to police stations to represent our clients because we enjoy the work, we enjoy the buzz of protecting the suspect and dealing with the police, this is one part of a great job or what was a great job.

The fees paid for police stations show that the state is getting incredibly good value for money for having what is effectively police station cover available all over the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

When I read on social media the many accounts of devoted criminal solicitors heading off to police stations at all hours I recognise the incredible contribution that they make which is totally unappreciated.

I wince when I see solicitors in police stations being portrayed on TV, they almost seem to be mute, dishevelled, somewhat odd and the evil link in the relationship between the client and the officer. They seem to come over as so unattractive yet by the time the case gets to court the barrister is portrayed as dynamic and sexy.

Today there are many barristers on the duty solicitor rotas. I have no idea how often they attend police stations, or what experience they have, but those who do go regularly will know just what a challenge this type of work is and why it is important that properly able and experienced solicitors or police station representatives are properly remunerated for acting in the most serious cases, after all you would not have a pupil barrister leading in a murder.

The right to free advice and representation at the police station followed the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 introduced by the Conservative government, the same party who are currently tearing up legal aid and access to justice.

Recently we acted for a youth arrested for murder. He had never been arrested before and was interviewed and bailed on a number of occasions. The solicitor concerned dealt with him and his understandably anxious family. The experienced solicitor spent in total 7 hours in providing advice and assistance and a total of 12 hours in travel and waiting. There were also numerous phone calls. The fee was just under £220. Ignoring all the phone calls that works out at about £11 an hour for an expert advising on the most serious type of allegation. Does this seem right to anybody?

Many people are never arrested, and so maybe this scenario does not trouble them, but innocent people do get arrested, in the wrong place at the wrong time, falsely accused etc, a fair justice system requires quality lawyers being available to advise at rates that enable them to at least make a living.

 

 

 

The Tuesday Truth

This week's Tuesday Truth is by Ali Parker Solicitor at Saunders Law and committee member of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association

A Diary of Progress, Politics, and Pessimists

 

23 December: High Court, JR proceedings. Application for Interim Relief Granted.
James Eadie QC for the MoJ “It’s the usual problem at this time of year M’Lud - all our staff have fled
to the shires. I shan’t be able to take proper instructions until 5 January”.  Now, these civil servants are regulating a 24-7, 365 day legal service. Yet they operate at 9am-5pm for about 40 weeks in the year. The irony of catching them out two days before Christmas was exquisite.

15 to 19 January: High Court, Judicial Review hearing

A masterclass by our entire legal team is all I will say. Incredible input from LCCSA and CLSA members, as well as Law Society stalwarts, like Richard Miller.  If you haven’t read the skeleton arguments, you really should.

21 January: Chris Grayling’s interview with ConservativeHome.

Not being a lawyer is a positive advantage to a Lord Chancellor, he explains:

"So you don't arrive at a decision because you're a barrister and therefore you favour the Bar, or because you're a solicitor and therefore you favour the solicitors' firms," Thus impugning the motives of 400 years of his predecessors.

“Being neither barrister nor a solicitor also allows me to dispassionately play one body off against the other”. Okay, so I made that second sentence up. He makes statistics up. We’ll call it a draw.

22 January: Jerry Hayes’ Blog

Jerry Hayes, a barrister and former Tory MP, wrote on his blog that Chris Grayling is “a sh*t that will have to be flushed” once the Tories win the general election. 

I appreciate the sentiment but I seriously doubt Mr. Grayling would be replaced by a compassionate and liberal Tory. The direction of the Tories on justice, rights of the individual, and the rule of law recently is clear. Just ask Dominic Grieve. As for a Tory replacement – apparently Michael Gove needs a job. I hear he gets on just fabulously with any profession he presides over.

23 January: The People have spoken.

Legal networking website Mootis found that 82% of its users were more likely to vote Conservative if Chris Grayling were replaced. Now, a word of caution here - this was clearly not a scientifically accurate poll. I know this because it appears to be off by about 18%.

29 January: MoJ Guidance.

The MoJ published an easy-to-use Court guide for those without lawyers. It includes the sentence:

“If you say you did not do a crime, you may have to go back to Court on a different day, to show the Court you did not do the crime. This is called a trial.”

Honestly, I go to real effort to think of amusing lines about criminal law, only for a civil servant to come up with a cracker like that without even trying. There’s no justice.

30 January: Labour Day

In the dead of night, the Labour Party finally declared their partial support. Sadiq Khan MP and his party would stop implementation of the much-reviled ‘two tier’ duty contract system, even if the government wins the judicial review. Labour would also ‘review’ the 8.75% solicitors’ fee cut due in June 2015, and work with the Law Society to try to find savings elsewhere.

There was a gasp of disbelief, muted applause, bursts of hope… but then the doom-mongers piled in. Those eternal glumsters with their prophecies of betrayal and defeat. Some of them honestly believe they’re being helpful. When it comes to political campaigning, their typical pattern is this:

Doom-monger without political support – “No politician cares about legal aid. There are no votes in it, you see. They aren’t people of principle, they only care about votes. That is why they ignore us, and always will”.

Doom-monger with political support – “Oh look, the Labour Party have just backed the LCCSA and CLSA on legal aid. What a bunch of opportunistic, untrustworthy vote-chasing shysters they are”.

Erm… excuse me?

Dear Brigade of Doom: if you proceed on the basis that no politician is ever worth a 10p phone call, then what is your plan, exactly? To spurn everyone in power, even when they agree with you? Such a policy would find favour with the People’s Front of Judea, but it won’t do for us. Not the 16,000 who responded to the first consultation, nor the 4,000 who responded to the last consultation, at the rate of 200 responses per day. Nor will it do for all those donors to our huge war-chest for these Judicial Reviews. Most importantly, pessimism won’t do for the wrongly-accused, the over-charged or the vulnerable defendants of the future. Some of whom would be going to Court with nothing but a government guide that gets the burden of proof wrong.

Crystal Ed Balls

What will happen with the current judicial review? What will happen during the election campaign? What will happen after that? Well, the Tuesday Truth is that none of us really know. But we do know that we will be on the right side. Nearly two years into this latest onslaught, and we’re still very much in the game. Personally, I suggest we say “Thank you Mr Khan. Now, what about the rest of you? Lib Dems? Greens? Plaid Cymru? Okay, even you compassionate Tories chained up in Lynton Crosby’s basement? Can any of you match or better that pledge on criminal legal aid?”

This is the question we should all be asking now. Like them or loathe them, it is the Labour Party that empowers us to ask it.

So whilst I am not authorised to provide financial advice, I wouldn’t start investing in “The End is Nigh” sandwich boards just yet.

 

The Tuesday Truth

Not the Global Law Summit – A Festival for Justice

Here’s a conundrum. 

Q: When is an anniversary celebration not an anniversary celebration?

A: When it’s the Global Law Summit .It’s billed as a celebration of the 800^th anniversary of the Magna Carta but any connection with the Magna Carta ends there. Indeed the Prime Minister himself introduces the Summit as “yet more evidence that Britain continues to lead the way in promoting free enterprise, economic growth, and the Rule of Law around the world”.  The only possible explanation for thinking this guff has anything to do with the Magna Carta must be drink.

The first clue for that is they got the wrong date.  The three day Summit starts on 23^rd February some four months ahead of the actual 800th anniversary. Only the most churlish would point out the real anniversary falls after the general election.

I have scoured the Magna Carta and nowhere can I find anything that strikes any chord with the Global Law Summit. Nowhere does it say in the charter that after nearly 800 years thou shalt organise the following:

• As many of the richest Queens Counsel and business people as can be found to gather together in the City of Westminster to venerate and celebrate liquidity, leverage and free enterprise.
• Chargeth £1750 per ticket for the privilege of ye olde worlde networking as truly the Summit doth provide a “valuable opportunity to meet and do business”. When thou does find that few men ( they are nearly all men ) want to forketh out such a princely sum , cut ticket price in unseemly panic and do mass ring round of legal community 
•  
• Assemble the top business monopolies including the Chairman of BAE systems who haveth such a proud record of building armoured fighting vehicles, combat aircraft and nuclear submarines to ensureth military personnel are ready for deployment, and understandeth first hand the effects of the rule of law having as recently as 2010 had to pay more than a Kings Ransom in fines for corrupt behaviour.
• If that shalt not be enough inviteth a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs and a Company Secretary of Vodafone to marketh this Great Charter
• Do not inviteth a single legal aid solicitor to speaketh as they be the scum of the earth and also they hath not even the reduced princely sum required to payeth the entrance fee.

 

In fact the real Magna Carta does not have that many remaining clauses, only three, of continued relevance including the most renowned which has a slightly different aspiration than the Summit -

“No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right to justice”.

 

One reason why the actual wording of the actual Magna Carta is not recorded at all in the celebration of the Magna Carta’s glossy brochure maybe that these words jar somewhat with what this government has been up to over the last five years. Access to justice has been decimated by the LASPO ‘reforms’ providing comfort to the Rackman landlord and bullying employer with legal aid all but removed for employment tribunals and halved for housing cases.

The Magna Carta was the foundational document of civil liberties and a vital defence  against the despot, King John (who had a penchant for taking his people into useless failing wars abroad). Today we have our own despot against justice, the inappropriately named Minister of Justice, who is picking on the most vulnerable in society, intent on decimating further basic rights of judicial review, and seeking the closure of 1000 criminal firms by ill thought out, rushed cuts, following ill thought out rushed privatisation of probation and court services. Everyone knows that miscarriages and injustice will become widespread. Many of us predicted the chaos that would ensue once the MOJ contracted for cut price interpreting and foresaw the nosedive in the quality of forensic  science evidence once the market was opened up to cut price experts. 

The only way to respond to the absurdity that is the Global Law Summit is to organise Not the Global Law Summit events. The Justice Alliance (formed out of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association) links together those who work within the justice system and those who use legal aid, charities alongside unions, grass roots campaigns and professional organisations. We are going to Runnymede on Saturday 21^st February in order to deliver the Magna Carta from there  in a relay to the summit, from whence it was signed. Silly hats are probably compulsory; the infamous King John Grayling puppet is keen to attend. We shall assemble nearby the Summit at Old Palace Yard opposite Parliament on Monday 23^rd February at 1pm. All lawyers, probation officers, civil servants, civil libertarians, protestors, and anyone who can’t afford the entrance fee to the Global Law Summit should come together in one mass non summit. From there a delegation will deliver the Magna Carta to the summit in the hope that someone actually reads it.

The Not the Global Summit Festivities will continue in the evening with a Stand up for Legal Aid, justice just got funny night at the Union Chapel (https://justiceallianceuk.wordpress.com/) , where the words free enterprise are banned, it may not be funnier than the real Summit but a ticket is less than 1% of the cost.

by Matt Foot with historical  inaccuracy guaranteed by Rhona Friedman

 

 

The Tuesday Truth

2015: A defining year for Criminal Justice

Dream a little dream

Although there is not much of January left I still feel entitled to set out some New Year’s resolutions (unrealistic dreams) for those involved in the delivery of Criminal Justice. I feel particularly strongly about this as I have already abandoned all of my own New Year’s resolutions, yes I admit it, I am eating big chocolate buttons again, putting sugar on my cereal and am back on the non fruit mid morning and mid afternoon snacks.

Constructive Engagement with the MOJ 

Obviously I hope the LCCSA, CLSA and Law Society win their judicial review against the MOJ duty solicitor contract proposal but really this wish is merely the tip of the iceberg. We need to be able to properly engage with the MOJ, in particular the civil servants who devise these proposals.  

Surely their primary purpose should be to facilitate a fair system for legal aid which preserves access to justice, and which depends on quality litigators and advocates. This engagement needs to take place without the spin and the misinformation and in the context of a longer period of review and research and engagement.

Re-engagement with the Bar

 A year ago the National Justice Committee was set up comprising the leadership of the bar, solicitors, and legal executives. It ended on a Tuesday in late March with the non bar members sitting round a table in EC1 wondering where the bar had got to. The answer was revealed two days later, they had been in meetings with the MOJ.  Six weeks before that unhappy split I spoke at the Bar Council Legal Aid event on behalf of solicitors and spoke of the importance of the independent bar and unity between the professions. At the same event Sarah Foreshaw the then leader of the South Eastern Circuit suggested that we lobby the Bar Council and the Law Society not to support the Global Law Summit in February 2015 marking  the 800^th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. Well actually the 799^th and 8 month anniversary, the shindig having been brought forward seemingly for purely political reasons.

I will spare us all from a further rehearsal of all the historical details but currently the relationship between the Bar leadership and Solicitor’s leadership is tense and untrusting. A year ago the Law Society was the MOJ’s darling and the Bar was the rebellious irritant that had the nerve to oppose the MOJ and organise industrial action. The Bar condemned the Law Society in strident terms for its lack of fight and unsuccessful appeasement policy. Today it is the Bar leadership enjoying the cosy relationship with Petty France whilst Chancery Lane is instructing Dinah Rose QC to fiercely interrogate the lawfulness of the two tier proposals in court. What a difference a year makes.

So my New Year’s hope for the Bar and Solicitors is that we find a forum to resolve the issues that divide us and focus on the many more issues that unite us. The issues that divide us are being gloriously exploited by the MOJ both in public and private. My personal view is that the resolution of such issues must be in private through the establishment of a body of the relevant leaders to address the difficulties over referral fees, the issues around the independent bar and solicitor advocates. Whilst it may take difficult negotiations to resolve the problems between ourselves, this can be done.  We must address these problems head on and then devote our time to the bigger threat, the attack on access to justice.

I can hear many of you saying “Paul don’t be so naive, we had a working group  last year and look what happened” or “Do you want to give up all those Tuesday nights again for those pointless meetings, hours and hours of your life that you will never be able to recover”.

I don’t want to give up what free time I have but I believe it has to happen. As with the Law Society there will come a point when the Bar’s relationship with the MOJ hits the buffers.  There may be a new party in power and suddenly the leadership of the Bar may need solicitors to help in fighting its corner and by then it may be too late. There are probably enough people of similar mind within the leadership of the Bar and the Solicitors so let us make it happen and let us end 2015 presenting a united front to the Ministry of Justice.

Not the Global Law Summit   

Following on from the above we need to pull together to fight for legal aid as a principle not as an ever decreasing cake where we are all competing for a slice. In this regard the Justice Alliance (headed by Matt Foot, Rhona Friedman and others) is organising a number of events and demonstrations to illustrate that the Global Law Summit celebrating 800 years of Magna Carta is a cynical commercial stunt organised by the Tory party for lawyers for the rich to tout for international work whilst the true principles of Magna Carta of access to justice, state accountability and civil liberties are ruthlessly being eroded by the government in the name of austerity. Civil and criminal solicitors and barristers must pull together to fight for access to justice so that by the end of 2015 we have reversed LASPO and have reminded the government that in a proper functioning democracy its duty  is to provide proper access to justice. In this respect I understand that Tony Cross Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association has agreed to speak at the Global Law Summit (Tory marketing party). Paying lip service to the rule of law at these types of events is not good enough, if you cannot say it as it is then in my view do not go as  presence potentially gives credibility to this sham of a celebration.

Probation

The Probation Service has been savaged by this government, part sold off, split in two; many valuable members of staff dispensed with, their work unnoticed or undervalued. The Ministry will say these reforms save money and improve efficiency. But greater inefficiencies are created, risk management is undermined and any cost saving in probation is ultimately a false economy creating extra costs elsewhere. I hope by the end of 2015 there will be a greater appreciation of the work done by probation service and steps will have been taken to reverse the reforms undertaken by the MOJ.

Prisons

The number of inmates is growing whilst prison staffing levels are reduced to the point when officer morale is at rock bottom, they spend their days fire fighting the results of cuts and overcrowding and allowing inmates a regular shower let alone useful rehabilitative work is beyond them.   If the government is allowed to continue to sell off the prison system we will end up with a US style system in which the companies who own prisons are incentivised by how many prisoners they can lock up and there is no motivation to rehabilitate as they need the repeat custom to appease the shareholders.  Savings from the prison budget are a true false economy not just financially but in the price society pays for a system where for the majority incarcerated there is little prospect for rehabilitation. So yes Mr Grayling there is a prison crisis and the Lord Chancellor’s resolution should be greater investment and understanding of the role the prison might play for the 21^st century prisoner in terms of rehabilitation

Police: 

Many of the liberals and lefties who read this blog might raise an eyebrow at me mentioning the police who have also been savaged by cuts and unwelcome reforms. However if they do not have the resources to do their job properly there is a knock on effect on everyone else in the system. Theresa May is suggesting a new law where a suspect cannot be bailed for more than 28 days without a decision being made re charge. I support this idea but believe that some of the delays in investigation are caused by lack of resources caused by Ms May’s own government, so I think the police should have the appropriate resources to do  their day to day job.

I could say much the same regarding  the court service and the CPS but some of you may  have had enough so I will finish as I started on a personal note, this time next year hopefully Spurs will have just qualified from the group stages of the Champions League for the knock out phase.............now that is dreaming.