My broadcasting career has hitherto been limited to a few desultory appearances on radio discussing the financial predicament of ailing businesses. I’ve always been an ‘inky’, as we say in the trade. Though that description rather underlines (in red pen, perhaps) just how much journalism has changed. I arrived amid the clatter of ‘hot metal’ long since sent for scrap and remember being amazed that all the printers drove Jags and Golf GTIs. How naive.
Still, ‘change is a constant’ and I am learning new tricks (if you’ll forgive the jarring conjunction of clichés). This week marks the launch of the Law Society Gazette podcast, the first episode of which I was delighted to chair.
After 123 years, the Gazette has finally taken to the air.
Every fortnight, we’ll bring you in-depth discussions with our journalists and key figures across the legal sector; clear, analytical framing of the issues behind the headlines; and sharp, focused questioning that holds up the Gazette as a mirror to the profession. What’s changing, what’s going wrong (and right) and who is being held to account.
Allow me to quote the promotional blurb: ‘From regulation and enforcement… To the economics of running a firm… To the reality of access to justice… And the growing gap between policy ambition and what actually happens on the ground. All legal life is here.’ I do hope you’ll tune in (do people still say ‘tune in’?).
We kick off on fertile ground. Deputy news editor John Hyde and reporter Moni Fouzder join me to discuss the daunting challenges facing the SRA.
Seven months ago, Sarah Rapson inherited a beleaguered watchdog facing critical scrutiny over spectacular law firm collapses, missing client money, regulatory overreach and a breakdown in relations with solicitors. Rapson promised what she described as a ‘reset’ and the early signs were encouraging. She was quick to front up to journalists – and the Law Society’s Council – about the turnaround job with which she has been tasked.
‘When Sarah Rapson arrived, the SRA was about as broken as a regulator can be,’ John tells me at the outset. So, how do we reckon she is getting on with fixing it?
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