Society raped by anonymity or saved from 'lynch law'?It was a case of art reflecting life this week, as the fortuitously scheduled ITV drama, 'The Innocent', coincided with a renewed debate about the anonymity - or not - of men accused of rape.The Independent reported that the Director of Public Prosecutions was considering a change in the law to grant anonymity (12 January).The paper took the issue to heart, devoting three articles in the same edition to the thorny question and demonstrated the dispute perfectly.

Columnist Deborah Orr said 'the suggestion is not as outlandish or as misogynous as it first appears'.

Going on to say that 'for any small community, unproven sexual accusations have the same results - people believe that 'there's no smoke without fire', she concluded that 'both men and women should be granted anonymity in rape cases'.However, a few pages earlier, the paper emphasised that 'it is vitally important that justice should be conducted in public - so that it can both be done and be seen to be done'.

While admitting that 'anyone wrongly accused of any crime suffers terribly', it argued that 'the logic of this argument would take us to the position where no one charged with or accused of any offence could be identified until conviction'.Elsewhere, it was a case of women lawyers to the fore.

Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was in the spotlight for her judgment in the other anonymity hot potato of the week, that of the 'deeply troubled' (Guardian, 9 January) killers of James Bulger.

The Guardian argued that 'the reason the criminal justice system was set up was to put an end to private blood feuds and lynch law'.

As 'the threat to the two young men could not have been more specific', the paper's conclusion was that 'free speech is important but so is the protection of life'.A female legal star of the future, a 23-year-old pupil barrister tipped as the 'first female Lord Chief Justice', was lovingly profiled in The Daily Telegraph (9 January).

'Strikingly elegant six-footer' Alison Macdonald was described as 'the brightest lawyer of her generation', a self-confessed socialist who holds the dubious honour of being both a fellow at All Souls College, Oxford and a pupil at the prestigious Matrix Chambers.But the woman lawyer who dominated the headlines was Judge Ann Goddard QC, who was attacked in court by an alleged murderer who managed to escape his security guards and leap over the dock.

The Daily Express (11 January) applauded her 'bravery' for returning to court two days after the 'horrifying attack', and expressed 'concern over cuts in court officials', which had led many barristers to fear that this was 'an accident waiting to happen'.Concerns were raised elsewhere about cuts in legal services, this time in 'the jewel of democracy' (The Times, 9 January), the lay magistracy system.

The Sunday Times (14 January) argued that 'it's a good thing that justice in the community should be dispensed by those who spring from its soil', and 'the more we whittle away at the lay magistracy, the less chance we give ourselves of being tried by our peers'.Finally, for those who thought MPs were out of touch with the common man, a cheering thought.

The government's plans for a compulsory sellers' pack are still making their way through parliament - the essence being that the moment you tell anyone that you are selling your house, you must produce a pack of information at great cost or risk being fined.

Luckily, Lib Dem MP Don Foster was on hand with a late night amendment to the Bill last week, which, The Guardian reported (11 January), excludes from this obligation those who mention their desire to sell up during 'casual conversations in premises licensed for entertainment or for the sale of intoxicating liquors'.Victoria MacCallum