Press roundupThe furtiveness of judges' selection came under fire in the national press this week.

The Financial Times (22 April) said the Lord Chancellor is under increasing pressure to introduce reforms following the Scottish Executive's proposal to set up an independent judicial appointments board.

Less than a month after Northern Ireland proposed similar proposals, Scotland has condemned secret soundings as 'not suited to a modern democracy that prides itself on openness'.

The Guardian's Jonathan Freeland (19 April), writing on the eve of last week's QC round, agreed: 'The system of secret sounding violates every principle judges are meant to enforce: it relies on hearsay and anonymous gossip.' He argued the appointment of new QCs matters as 'there is not a senior judge in Britain who has not first "taken silk".' Last week's law lords reshuffle preserved the upper echelons of the judiciary as an exclusively male domain, with women and ethnic minorities remaining under-represented in higher courts.

'The clich of the white, male, public-school educated m'lud has endured partly because, like most clichs, it's true - especially at the very top,' he said.The Independent (22 April) focused on City lawyers' pay, following Allen & Overy's decision to follow Clifford Chance's pay increases the preceding week (see [2000] Gazette, 14 April, 5).

The firm has resolved to dish out 42,000 to newly-qualified assistants.

The paper said the move is to prevent junior lawyers from being poached by rival firms and dot.com companies, adding that investment banks are reviewing pay to achieve similar ends.It concluded: 'The news from the law firms and investment banks is likely to heighten concern at the economic impact of such pay inflation after official figures showed earnings growth has hit an eight-year high of 6%.'Seguing on nicely to lawyers' fees, The Independent reported that legal bills are set to make up two-thirds of the estimated 65 million cost of the Savile Inquiry into Bloody Sunday (20 April).

The Daily Telegraph reported that lawyers fighting for the royalties of seventies rock band Badfinger swallowed the spoils of a successful High Court action, leaving the claimants with nothing after their 120,000 costs (20 April).

Private Eye dived headlong into fat cat lawyer bashing and the growing number of scare stories about the Human Rights Act 1998.

'Legal system could break under weight of money, Irvine warns', ran the headline.

It mock-reported: 'The Lord Chancellor last night painted a horrifying picture of the collapse of Britain's judicial system as lawyers are forced to take on millions of new cases under the new EU Human Rights Act.' Under the caption 'Derry Rich', the Eye had Lord Irvine saying: 'It is appaling.

You have no idea just how much we lawyers will make from these ridiculous cases.'Anne Mizzi