Nick Emmerson becomes 179th President of the Law Society
The Gazette Magazine (pages 18-20) speaks to Nick Emmerson as he becomes the 179th President of the Law Society.
"We need to consider what it is to be a lawyer, a solicitor. Because at the moment we focus a lot on clients, and we seem to define ourselves by our clients. But that's not quite right. Yes, we have to represent clients with all our vigour and all our might. But we advise clients, we work for them and not with them," he said.
"What it means to be a legal professional, I think, is what we do have duties to the court, we do have duties to society. Yes, we do have duties to our clients, but we should not be defined by them.
"The profession is blurring the back-to-basics of what it means to be a lawyer and that can make it very difficult for people.
"I think that it an issue we have to try and clarify and make sure solicitors know where they stand – especially when they are being attacked and called 'lefty lawyers.' And that's where the ethics come from."
CDR Magazine, LawCareers.Net and Paradise News also cover the news.
Prison crisis
Channel 4 News continues coverage of the news that judges have been told not to send some convicted criminals to jail due to prisons nearing capacity.
Ben Brown, our council member for criminal defence, spoke (from 1:17) and said: "We have in this country something that's called a separation of powers between the government and the judiciary, and we now seemingly have a position where a government minister is giving a direction to the Lord [Lady] Chief Justice to say you can't send criminals to prison because the prisons are full.
"With the deepest respect, that's a problem for the government to solve, it's not a problem for the judiciary.
"The delays in the justice system and the problems in the justice system existed long before Covid and long before the barristers' strike."
Decade-long wait for compensation and unpaid fines hit £1.5bn
The Sunday Telegraph (£) reports that victims are waiting almost a decade for court-ordered compensation from criminals, while figures from the Ministry of Justice show outstanding fines have hit £1.5bn
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: "The latest figures show a massive £1.5 billion in outstanding fines (financial impositions) on criminals uncollected by the government. This is at a time when the criminal justice system is desperate for investment.
"That figure is almost double the annual amount spent on criminal legal aid and equivalent to the entire annual operating budget for HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
"Our courts are in a deteriorating state, there are huge backlogs of cases and chronic shortages of judges and solicitors. Every penny counts if the criminal justice system is going to get back on its feet. Efforts to collect these outstanding fees must be a priority."
Court backlog
The Times (£) and Solicitors Journal cover the government's latest Crown Court backlog figures, which show Crown Court cases increased to 65,004 in August this year, making the government target of reducing the backlog to 53,000 by March 2025 appear increasingly unrealistic.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: "The backlogs in our courts are actually getting larger instead of reducing as the crisis in our criminal justice system worsens.
"Our prisons are so overcrowded that judges are reportedly being asked to delay sentencing convicted criminals.
"Our courts are so overwhelmed with cases that victims and defendants are having to wait years for cases to come to trial.
"After decades of underfunding and neglect, the only answer is urgent investment across the whole criminal justice system, otherwise the downward spiral will only continue."
LSB chief hints at merging the BSB and SRA
Matthew Hill, chief executive of the Legal Services Board has told the Law Expo that there is strong argument in favour of merging the Bar Standards Board and the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
David McNeill, director of public affairs at the Law Society, told the Gazette: "Matthew Hill made a comment about the merits of consolidating the BSB and SRA into a single super-regulator. It was clearly intended to provoke debate and was not a firm proposal.
"Nonetheless it was an interesting intervention from the head of the LSB in the debate about the future of legal services regulation made at a time when the whole question is clouded by the highly problematic proposal from CILEX to fragment the regulatory landscape, abolish an existing front-line regulator and reintroduce a measure of self-regulation in the system."
AML regime: Legal sector expertise must be retained
The Gazette covers our reaction on the Treasury's consultation on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing, where we warned that the government must ensure legal sector-specific expertise is retained.
"The solicitors' profession is fully committed to tackling illicit finance and money laundering. This is demonstrated by the significant resources allocated to complying with its AML and financial crime obligations," said Law Society president Nick Emmerson.
"The AML regime is highly complex and it is vital for representative bodies, such as the Society, to be able to help draft and contribute to legal sector-wide guidance."
On the proposed Professional Body Supervisor (PBS) consolidation model, Nick Emmerson said: "We support this model, but only for England and Wales. PBS consolidation has the potential of simplifying the complex regulatory landscape, making it easier to navigate and bringing more consistent levels of supervision.
"The model also supports the preservation of the independence of the legal profession from the government."
Property law conference
The Gazette covers our property law conference, which discussed climate change.
Our immediate past president Lubna Shuja said: "Climate change is really important, not just for solicitors but for society as a whole.
"This is not just about how you operate ethically – a firm's carbon footprint and who you give advice to – but how you advise clients on the impact of climate change. We know lenders are positioning climate change as a tier-one risk. They are actively reviewing portfolios and assessing future impacts on residential and commercial property transactions."
Also worth a read:
- Asylum lawyer warns "someone will be killed" if politicians fail to dial down hate speech – Mirror
- Alex Chalk eyeing up Texas-style justice system – Telegraph (£)
- Setfords launches two mentoring schemes aimed at aspiring Black lawyers – Legal Futures
- Bar Councils of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland say "no evidence" that barristers need a new AML regime – Legal Futures
- A&O Sherman is borne after merger passed by partnership – FT (£)
- Post Office's former head of prosecutions grilled at Inquiry – Gazette
- PwC survey shows billable hours have fallen – FT (£)