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IN BRIEF
Low Commission final report
The Low Commission has announced that it will now publish its report in January 2014; it had originally been scheduled to publish next month. LAG understands that the final report has undergone significant redrafting after the commission published its emerging recommendations for consultation in September.
Sara Ogilvie, the research assistant to the commission, has left LAG to join the civil and human rights charity, Liberty. Richard Gutch, the secretary to the commission, will leave his post as planned at the end of December.
Justice annual lecture
Lord Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court, expressed strong views on the rule of law and access to justice, in a lecture he gave last month for the charity Justice.
In his address entitled ‘Justice in an age of austerity’, Lord Neuberger argued that the rule of law was dependent on the public having access to the courts. He expressed concern about the government’s plans to reform judicial review, stressing the importance of the courts in holding the executive to account and in protecting citizens from its excesses.
Lord Neuberger lamented the decline in eligibility for legal aid and was critical the government reductions in legal aid: ‘Cutting the cost of legal aid deprives the very people who most need the protection of the courts of the ability to get legal advice and representation’, he said. He also made a plea for greater simplicity in legislation, arguing that: ‘We need legislation which is more critically and expertly considered and which is significantly less in quantity.’
In pointed remarks on the costs of the justice system, he said that for those providing legal services ‘there is a public interest in keeping the charge as low as possible’. He was critical of charges fixed to hourly rates, as ‘paying by reference to the hourly rate rewards the slow and ignorant lawyer at the expense of the speedy and knowledgeable lawyer’.