Andrew Holroyd discusses the Treaty of Lisbon, the diversity of judicial appointments and the need to promote the profession
The European Scrutiny Committee assesses more than 1,000 pieces of EU legislation a year, so there was no one better to help us launch our guide to the Treaty of Lisbon than its Chairman, Michael Connarty MP.
Attended by luminaries such as Henry Bellingham MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, and two former EU Commissioners, Lord Brittan and Lord Clinton Davis, the launch was a real success, promoting both the guide and the Society, as the debate about the treaty raged next door in the Commons.
I do not know whether it is one for the next edition of the Guinness World Records, but I think I can now claim a first on Westminster’s soil – a non-partisan speech about Europe.
With the treaty creating a new framework, with new ways to help clients, what solicitors need is a guide stripped of rhetoric and hyperbole. Our guide does just that. It gives the facts and explains how the treaty will affect areas such as dispute resolution, family law and criminal law.
We have already had one particularly good review by Michael Connarty, speaking in the House and reported in Hansard: ‘It gives good advice to the legal profession… the guide is not prejudiced in any way, but offers a clear elucidation of what the treaty contains.’
Judge for yourself at lawsociety.org.uk/europe. For updates on EU developments, see our new free online Law Society library at lawsociety.org.uk/libraryonline.
Judicial disappointments
Ask anyone to picture a high court judge and they are likely to envisage a white, privately educated, male barrister. They would not be far wrong. Out of 108 high court judges only ten are women, only one is from an ethnic minority background and only one is a former solicitor.
Two years after the appointment of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) there has been criticism in some quarters that change has been glacial. All ten of the first tranche of appointments under the JAC match the stereotype, so, on the face of it, it is new system but same old result.
No one is questioning the integrity or intelligence of our most senior judges. But at a time where public confidence in all professions and institutions appears to be suffering from an almost precipitous decline, we have to work hard to ensure our judges better reflect society.
What we need is both social and professional diversity – 140,000 solicitors is a vast untapped pool of both. There is no doubt the JAC’s objectives are not only clear but that this is something they want to achieve. They have asked the Law Society to take part in a diversity forum to see what steps can be taken and we will endeavour to help them in any way we can.
Promoting the profession
For as long as I can remember, our profession has always endured a rather curious paradox. Ask someone to rate their own direct experience with their solicitor and the overwhelming majority of people are extremely positive. Ask the same person what their impression is of the profession as a whole and the answer is all too often very different indeed.
The question is, of course, why? Perhaps part of the answer lies with the media. Any aspiring hack who files a ‘solicitor triumphs again’ story will find a P45 form thrust in their face quicker than you can say ‘where’s the value in good news?’
One of my principle objectives as President has been to promote the collective excellence of the profession at every possible opportunity. This will be, to quote a certain Liverpudlian band, a long and winding road. But in an increasingly complex, cluttered and confusing legal services market, and with a mix of solicitor and non-solicitor providers, it is vital that we reinforce the most basic, yet most overlooked messages of all: who we are, what we do and why we are the best and most qualified people to do it.
Being different from the competition is not enough – we have to be seen to be different.
This work dovetails perfectly with what we are doing on promoting the rule of law at home and abroad. Next month I shall update you about a series of lectures we are organising on rule 1 of our code of conduct entitled ‘Markets, Justice and Legal Ethics’, chaired by Joshua Rozenberg.
Business may understand the distinctions between solicitors and non-solicitors, but there is a huge constituency out there that does not. That is why in April the Law Society is launching its largest advertising campaign ever. Adverts explaining why people should choose solicitors will appear everywhere from billboards and taxis in cities to national newspapers. Next month we will circulate tools to both firms and local law societies so that they can piggyback on the campaign, and after the initial advertising push we will measure the effectiveness of the campaign to decide how we take our message forward. I hope, come the end of April, that the road to changing public perceptions will be a little less long and a little less winding.
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