The Erskine example

The drive to cut costs is threatening to undermine our adversarial system and give judges a more inquisitorial role (see my article “Justice in the balance”). Indeed, the belief that advocacy in court is the primary legal skill, which used to dominate the English legal profession, may be on the way out.

As dispute resolution adopts different forms and emphases, the gladiatorial method of legal combat is looking increasingly old fashioned. Yet great advocates in the past did much to establish the best features of our legal tradition, most of all its independence and selfless commitment to the client’s cause. The public acclaim bestowed on their forensic triumphs gave them the celebrity status known today only to the entertainment industry. Their example helped to educate the public to respect the rule of law and the ethical standards of its best practitioners.

Thomas Erskine was a heroic example. He was born in 1749, son of the 10th Earl of Buchan, an impoverished