In May 2004, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) took exception to my suggestion that the then proposed expansion of the role of unqualified caseworkers in the magistrates' court was an exercise in 'creeping delawyerisation' (see [2004] Gazette, 27 May, 14).


Just over a year later, it happened again, when the role of caseworkers was extended to include custody applications and case management hearings (see [2005] Gazette, 6 October, 5).



Now it appears that there is a yet further extension to include summary-only trials and committal proceedings (see [2007] Gazette, 19 July, 4).



To paraphrase the 'duck test' of the first President Bush: if it looks like delawyerisation, walks like it and sounds like it, then it is delawyerisation.



Clearly the Crown Prosecution Service no longer views what goes on in the magistrates' courts as of any importance, and such a proposal undervalues the work of the DPP's lawyers. Any solicitor contemplating working for the service should ask themselves why they bothered with the expense and aggravation of qualifying.



John Edwards, former branch Crown prosecutor, Neston, Cheshire