From rhetoric to reality?

Unlike his predecessor, our new Lord Chancellor is already signalling a principled approach to the need to repair our failing judicial system. In his speech on 23 June 2015 to the Legatum Institute he spoke eloquently in praise of the rule of law. Yet he also recognised “a dangerous inequality at the heart of our system” acknowledging that “while those with money can secure the finest legal provision in the world the reality for many of our citizens is that the justice system is failing them badly”. Interestingly, Mr Gove blames this situation on antiquated working methods and “grotesque inefficiencies”, ignoring the adverse impact of the savage cuts imposed by his government and its predecessors.

Justice in an age of austerity

Recently (see “A message for Mr Gove”, NLJ, 29 May 2015, p 9) I wrote about the proposals published earlier this year by a working party of Justice (of which I was a member) under the title “Delivering