Lawyers need to get better at explaining to the public why human rights matter, the director of Liberty warned this week.

Shami Chakrabarti told the Gazette that too often when lawyers speak out about issues affecting the right to a fair trial, people assume they are acting in their own self-interest. She said: 'When lawyers complain about due process issues, people say they just care about being paid. If they raise points about the rules of evidence, people think they are only complaining because they want to make trials last longer, so they will get paid more.


'The challenge for lawyers is to talk about values. Lawyers have not been the best at demonstrating that due process issues are not just our professional rules - it's not legalism or vested professional interest. These are cultural values essential to a democratic society.


'These issues do resonate with lawyers, and thank goodness they do.'


Ms Chakrabarti urged solicitors to join non-government organisations and political parties, and get involved in wider debate. She added: 'Lawyers also need to find new language, which is hard for them to do, because it is too easy to use [legalistic] language. Sometimes I am picked up on that myself.'