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Traducing the judges
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com
“Politically motivated attacks on the legal profession are irresponsible and dangerous,” representatives of all 250,000 lawyers in the United Kingdom said this week. These attacks, they added, “weaken public trust and confidence in the rule of law and erode the very foundations of justice that underpin fairness and democracy”.
In a joint statement, the Bar Council, the Law Society, the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates, the Bar of Northern Ireland and the Law Society of Northern Ireland said:
Barristers, solicitors and judges have been subjected to violence, death threats and rape threats. Some have faced threats to their family members. We have repeatedly seen law firms and offices be set upon by protestors. We are deeply disturbed by this rising tide of intimidation targeting those who serve our justice system and uphold democratic principles.
Lawyers should never suffer adverse consequences because they are identified with their clients or their clients’ causes. Lawyers are not their clients. Those who are unpopular or despised are still entitled to access the courts just as much as anyone else. Nobody is above the law, including politicians. Nobody is beneath the law’s protections.
As the statement acknowledges, it’s not just the lawyers who have come under attack in the past couple of weeks. Judges are particularly vulnerable to ill-informed criticism from those seeking political advantage.
For a unique perspective on the challenges now facing the judiciary I spoke yesterday to Professor Sir Ross Cranston, the only person alive to to have served in the legislature, the executive and the full-time senior judiciary of England and Wales.
In a wide-ranging interview for A Lawyer Talks, Cranston discussed the themes of his new book, Judging, published this month by Oxford University Press. He made the case for a new offence of traducing the judiciary, which could be committed by those who make false allegations of corruption against judges online.
My regular podcast is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol above.
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By Joshua RozenbergThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com
“Politically motivated attacks on the legal profession are irresponsible and dangerous,” representatives of all 250,000 lawyers in the United Kingdom said this week. These attacks, they added, “weaken public trust and confidence in the rule of law and erode the very foundations of justice that underpin fairness and democracy”.
In a joint statement, the Bar Council, the Law Society, the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates, the Bar of Northern Ireland and the Law Society of Northern Ireland said:
Barristers, solicitors and judges have been subjected to violence, death threats and rape threats. Some have faced threats to their family members. We have repeatedly seen law firms and offices be set upon by protestors. We are deeply disturbed by this rising tide of intimidation targeting those who serve our justice system and uphold democratic principles.
Lawyers should never suffer adverse consequences because they are identified with their clients or their clients’ causes. Lawyers are not their clients. Those who are unpopular or despised are still entitled to access the courts just as much as anyone else. Nobody is above the law, including politicians. Nobody is beneath the law’s protections.
As the statement acknowledges, it’s not just the lawyers who have come under attack in the past couple of weeks. Judges are particularly vulnerable to ill-informed criticism from those seeking political advantage.
For a unique perspective on the challenges now facing the judiciary I spoke yesterday to Professor Sir Ross Cranston, the only person alive to to have served in the legislature, the executive and the full-time senior judiciary of England and Wales.
In a wide-ranging interview for A Lawyer Talks, Cranston discussed the themes of his new book, Judging, published this month by Oxford University Press. He made the case for a new offence of traducing the judiciary, which could be committed by those who make false allegations of corruption against judges online.
My regular podcast is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol above.