Solicitors called for jury service need not conceal their profession from fellow jurors but it is not necessary to volunteer the information immediately and they should not offer legal opinions, according to guidance issued last month.

Since April 2004, the exemption for lawyers from serving on juries was lifted, and the guidance from the Law Society’s criminal law committee warned that only in exceptional cases will complete excusal be granted.


The Law Society has supported the change. The guidance said: ‘We believe that juries are a fundamental aspect of a fair criminal justice system and that the performance of jury service is an important civic duty. It is in the public interest that jurors are drawn from as wide a pool as possible. Solicitors, and other persons concerned with the administration of justice, should not be automatically exempt.’


While special knowledge of any person involved in a trial would be wrong, knowing the jury bailiff or court staff other than case progression officers would not be considered a reason to be excused. If the solicitor is summonsed to attend the court at which they regularly practise or sit judicially, they should apply not to serve there.


Valid professional or business reasons may justify deferral or excusal, but the guidance warned there must be ‘unusual hardship’ involved to justify it. It said: ‘If a solicitor has a court fixture arranged prior to receipt of the jury summons for which there is a professional requirement to attend, or if the interests of a client would be otherwise jeopardised, application for deferral should be made.’


Once at the court, the guidance cautioned solicitors to tell the court if they are familiar with the judge presiding, a lawyer, the defendant, a member of the defendant’s family or a potential witness.


Notwithstanding this, ‘once selected to serve on a jury a solicitor does so as part of their duty as a private citizen. It is neither necessary nor appropriate to conceal their profession from other jurors but nor is it necessary to volunteer such information immediately. They should expect to be treated as equal members of the jury and should not be accorded any special status’.


However, the guidance advised solicitors not to express any advice or opinion on the law or any direction on the law given by the judge, or on the reasons for the jury being asked to leave the court during a trial even if asked. The guidance said: ‘[Solicitors] must accept, again like any other member of the jury that it is for the judge, not the jury, to decide issues of law and must accept legal directions on any issue even if they consider them to be incorrect.’