HAVE FAITH


It was with much disappointment that I read that the Law Society opposes the widening of eligibility for judicial appointments as proposed in the draft Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill (see 2006 Gazette, 12 October, 8).



Surely that old chestnut of public perception linked to standards was the ruse used by the bar to keep solicitors off their patch, both for judicial appointment and higher advocacy rights? It is a bit embarrassing to see the Law Society trot it out now.



Has the Law Society no faith in the Judicial Appointments Commission's ability to maintain standards? And are we really, in this day and age, to believe that any solicitor is better equipped to apply to chair, for example, an employment tribunal than a legal executive who has qualified as a specialist employment lawyer and has years of specialist practice under his belt?



Happily, the Institute of Legal Executives has confidence that the commission's newly published recruitment procedures will sort the wheat from the chaff. And if the wheat turns out to be a legal executive, so be it. The public, and the administration of justice, deserve nothing less than the best.



Diane Burleigh, ILEX chief executive, Kempston, Bedford