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12 November 2021 / Theo Huckle KC
Issue: 7956 / Categories: Opinion , Profession
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Here to act, not to judge (Pt 2)

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What price justice? In a second update on the parlous state of our justice system, Theo Huckle QC explains why all of our people’s legal rights should be real and enforceable

In the first part of this article I referred to a commentary quotation about Rudy Giuliani and his appearances for former President Trump to challenge electoral results in last Autumn’s US Presidential race: ‘A lawyer may have any old client, but a lawyer cannot tell the court any old thing. Even a lawyer as partisan as Rudy Giuliani could not bring himself to mislead a court by alleging electoral fraud for his client Donald Trump, though both freely made such allegations outside of the courtroom,’ (Prospect, ‘Should a lawyer ever refuse to act in an unpleasant case?’, David Allen Green, April 2021).

I made it clear that deliberate misrepresentation of any form by a lawyer is an abomination, that the common suggestion that lawyers ‘lie’ on behalf of their clients is anathema

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Dual-qualified partner joins as head of commercial property department

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Firm announces appointment of next chair

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Director joins corporate team from the US

NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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