Judges Call For Extended Rights

SOLICITOR-ADVOCATES: senior judges call on government for clarity over who wears what in court

Senior law lord Lord Bingham and Master of the Rolls Sir Richard Scott are lobbying the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, to grant solicitors full rights of audience on appeals to the High Court from the county court.

In a letter to all Queens Bench and Chancery High Court judges earlier this year, the senior judges recommended that judges should sit 'unrobed' in all interlocutory hearings and all hearings of appeals from the county court.

They wrote: 'It seems to us sensible in general that judges, on the occasions when they sit unrobed, should be prepared to hear solicitor-advocates whether or not they have strict rights of audience.'

They said the changes were needed to implement a Judges Council proposal that solicitors should have rights of audience for 'unrobed' interim hearings by High Court judges.

But strict rights of audience rules apply to 'robed' final hearings including trials, judicial review and habeas corpus writs.

The application followed judicial confusion on court dress and the status of solicitor-advocates after introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules.

The Judges Council said the reforms caused uncertainty, especially in the Chancery Division, where the situation was described as 'thoroughly confused' and 'thoroughly unclear'.

Mark Humphries, chairman of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates (SACHA), said the reforms had plunged judges into confusion.

SACHA is now campaigning for equality of court dress for solicitors and barristers now that all solicitors have rights of audience and a new regulatory regime is in the offing).

Mr Humphries branded court dress as 'poncy' and said a relaxation of the rules would be great public relations for the legal profession.

'Why do we have to dress up and make ourselves look like idiots? Why can't we have something sensible like the US system where, at the most, the judge will put on a gown?'

Criminal trials tend to cause lawyers more problems, because the difference in dress has to be explained to a jury.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, David Calvert-Smith, said he thought gowns and bands were appropriate - but not wigs.

Anne Mizzi