On 24th February 2010, at Portcullis House, Westminster, the Public Access Bar Association, which I chair, was treated to a wide-ranging glimpse of life under a future Conservative Government. The shadow Justice Secretary, Dominic Grieve QC, MP, gave us a detailed projection of life for the Bar under a Tory administration.
The Tories would adopt the Jackson proposals on costs reform. They will look at the question whether the Legal Services Commission has any future at all. They will consider funding legal aid from the interest generated by a national client account into which all client account monies would be payable by law. They may well ensure that the Legal Services Board does not act too coercively with regard, for example, to powers to search lawyers' offices. Mr Grieve acknowledged the issues raised in my article in The Barrister magazine, see http://www.barristermagazine.com/articles/issue33/beaumont.htm
What came through repeatedly in Mr Grieve's address, is that a Tory Government would listen to the Bar, would not dictate to it and would keep an open mind on all key issues.
There is every reason to hope that the sensation of being besieged by direct and indirect Labour attacks on the Bar, will yield to a new era of harmony and goodwill between the Bar and Government. After years of being undermined and underfunded by the Labour government, the Bar should quietly hope for a Tory win in the forthcoming General Election.
Your comment about years of being undermined and underfunded are so right. It will be a big task to reverse the issues arising from the last decade or so of mismanagement and may require some tangential thinking on the part of a new administration.
Posted by: Stephen Twist | 03/04/2010 at 11:20 PM