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Turning the tide

26 July 2007 / Sir Geoffrey Vos
Issue: 7283 / Categories: Features , Profession
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The government should be promoting the law as a public service, says Geoffrey Vos QC

The legal profession is deeply unpopular. Or so it seems to many lawyers in all areas of practice up and down the country. This unpopularity seems to have four aspects—unpopularity with consumer organisations, with the public, with the tabloid press and, worst of all, with the government.
It is useful to examine why this might be the case, what we can do about it, and whether the problem is a purely British one. It is true that some—but relatively few—lawyers earn large sums of money, but then so do actors, film stars, footballers, bankers and private equity partners. It is true that some—though very few—lawyers bring their profession into disrepute, but then so do some accountants, actuaries, architects and surveyors. It is true that some—though again, in absolute terms, few—complaints against lawyers have been badly handled in the past, but then so have complaints against many other professionals.

CONSUMER ORGANISATIONS

Consumer organisations seem to have rational grounds for their

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors examine recent international relocation cases where allegations of domestic abuse shaped outcomes
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