Discrimination: solicitor-advocates attest to embarrassment and inferior treatment

The Lord Chief Justice has been urged to end the 'unfair prejudice' to solicitor-advocates caused by different court dress to barristers, and the signs are that he may act.


In a letter to Lord Phillips, Law Society President Kevin Martin took up the cause of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates in calling for a change to a 1994 practice direction, handed down during a time of debate about the retention of traditional court dress, to allow for equality with barristers.


'This long-term holding position has unfortunately resulted in adverse consequences to the administration of justice and has unfairly prejudiced solicitor-advocates,' Mr Martin wrote.


Court dress currently comes within the purview of the Lord Chancellor, but will move across to Lord Phillips on 3 April when he becomes head of the judiciary under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. He is known as a moderniser, and it is understood that there may be some movement on court dress as a result.


Mr Martin pointed out that the different robes make solicitor-advocates conspicuous in a courtroom 'or more embarrassingly mistaken for a court usher, who share the same attire'. He continued: 'The difference in court dress can lead to solicitor-advocates being seen as inferior to barristers. This is attested to by many personal accounts of discrimination suffered by solicitor-advocates.'


Together with different modes of address, this could have a knock-on effect for clients if jurors consider the solicitor-advocate less credible and commercial implications if it also leads to them not being instructed in the first place, Mr Martin argued. 'There are well-documented instances of clients indicating that they do not mind who the advocate is as long as they wear a wig.'


Mr Martin maintained that part of the reason solicitor advocacy 'has not established itself as well as it could' is a sense among practitioners 'that once they enter the higher court arena, they are likely to be deemed second class'.


The letter was copied to the Bar Council and chairman Stephen Hockman QC recently said it is inevitable that the issue of court dress - and whether barristers need to be 'clothed in costumes dating back to the 18th century' - will be revisited over the coming months.


'Moreover, there is a continuing issue as to an appropriate and distinctive form of court dress for solicitor-advocates,' he said. 'The bar should take a lead in this debate and argue positively for a constructive review of these matters.'


A Department for Constitutional Affairs consultation on reforming court dress closed in August 2003, but nothing has been heard of it since. A spokeswoman said there was 'no strong pressure' for reform, adding that the department had focused on other priorities.