Justice MUST be seen to be done.
Famously the statue of Justice that pinnacles the rotunda of the Old Bailey wears no blindfold. One explanation for this is that she embodies the need for justice to be seen to be done. One of the...
View ArticleA rose by any other name does NOT smell as sweet...
A widely recognised virtue of the internet is the demystification of specialist knowledge. Doctors must sigh when their patients turn up clutching sheaths of Wikipedia printouts but the truth is that...
View ArticleConvicting the Guilty
It is well known that many (most) criminal barristers are frustrated actors. This phenomenon can induce an unhelpful inclination towards melodrama. However nobody should doubt the authenticity of the...
View ArticleMy response to the Ministry of Justice's damnable consultation.
Dear Lord ChancellorThis is my response to the Ministry of Justice’s ‘Transforming legal aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system’ consultation’.If you implement the MoJ’s proposals you...
View ArticleNext Steps consultation response of Max Hardy
9 Bedford RowLondon WC1R 4AZ 1st November 2013 Dear Lord Chancellor I hope you will forgive me if this response to the consultation paper does not engage much with the detail. This is because a...
View ArticleJustice's blindfold slips
In the morning of Monday 6th January 2014 Justice’s blindfold will slip from her eyes and gag her mouth. Courts up and down the land will fall silent in an unprecedented display of unity by...
View ArticleWhat criminal barristers do and what they don't
Aspiring criminal barristers have to want to expose themselves every day to the public scrutiny of judges and juries and that exposure can, sometimes, feel relentless and remorseless. However the best...
View ArticleYoung Barristers' Committee's submission to Sir Bill Jeffrey's Review of...
Introduction This is the response of the Young Barristers' Committee (“YBC”) to the Jeffrey Review (“the Review”). Annex A conveys the views of some junior barristers. The YBC is one of the Bar...
View ArticleHow to prosecute a rapist
Since the Ministry of Justice announced swingeing and devastating cuts to the criminal Legal Aid budget I have met with ministers, judges and leaders of the profession and a constant refrain of mine...
View ArticleDeal or No Deal. What now?
At the CBA meeting I voted in favour of the ‘deal’. At that moment, albeit with reservation and hesitation, I thought that was the right decision for the Young Bar. With the benefit of hindsight I am...
View ArticleHow much for the judge?
One of the best but also the very worst traits often found in British people is a tendency to presume the worst of life. As a positive this is one of the factors that has historically militated...
View ArticleCaveat Vendor - why barristers should not be forced to settle for less.
This is my response to the Bar Standards Board's consultation proposing to make it a disciplinary offence for barristers to refuse to work for less money than they have contractually agreed. Q.1: Have...
View ArticleWhither the Young Bar - a junior barrister responds to Sir Bill Jeffrey's Review
When the Ministry of Justice announced that Sir Bill Jeffrey was to produce a review of the provision of criminal defence advocacy I was intrigued. There are many who contend in the heat of the...
View Article'Just a name on the door' - Why Justice does not wear a dress.
1, 2, 3, 3 and 3. If you know what those numbers mean you know your Law or, more specifically, your Courts: you are also probably a feminist. These are the numbers of women in the Supreme Courts of...
View ArticleEquality & Diversity: Not an optional extra.
When I was at Eton in the 1990s I thought I knew all about diversity. After all just in my year group were boys from Nepal, Saudi Arabia, India, China, Colombia, France, Italy, Germany, Spain,...
View ArticleJudge a man by his actions not his website - Reflection on the Attorney General
Of many of the appointments made in the Cabinet Reshuffle this week two of the least publicised and celebrated have been those of the new Attorney General and the new Solicitor General. Dominic Grieve...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to Lord Justice Leveson & HH Geoffrey Rivlin QC
It is incumbent upon anybody with even a passing interest in the proper functioning of the Criminal Justice System (CJS), and frankly that should be all of us, that they do not miss the opportunity to...
View ArticleHearing women's voices
As a child (just) of the pre-Internet age I remember as a teenager walking through Hyde Park at the weekend and wandering through the good natured melees that used to congregate at Speaker’s Corner....
View ArticleJustice is performed not a performance: appearance and reality in English...
Legal blogging is an arduous business. Turn your back for two minutes and such a succession of events occurs that even the thought of mustering the time and energy to comment on them induces...
View ArticleOld Charter Young Barristers
My powers of clairvoyance are no better than the next man’s but I would be willing to wager £46.50 (mention hearing fee) that whatever else happens on Friday 8thMay 2015 The Right Honourable Chris...
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