‘Delivering judgment on the lord chancellor’s controversial criminal legal aid reforms by the end of the month will be a ‘pretty tall order’, senior judges have said at the end of a three-day hearing in the High Court.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 20th January 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
The Judiciary, the Executive and Parliament: Relationships and the Rule of Law (PDF)
Speech by Lord Chief Justice
Institute for Government, 1st December 2014
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
‘The High Court has denied the Lord Chancellor relief from sanctions in a case involving an attempt by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) to reclaim £160,000 plus interest from a former law firm 16 years after the final payments were made.’
Litigation Futures, 11th November 2014
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘A recently retired High Court judge has said he thinks government cuts to the legal system have gone too far.’
BBC News, 22nd October 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Former lord chancellor Lord Falconer has attacked successor Chris Grayling for failing to view his commitment to the rule of law as different to that of any other government minister.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 22nd October 2014
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The lord chancellor acted ‘unlawfully’ in the way he consulted on controversial plans to shake up criminal legal aid, the High Court ruled today [19 September].’
Law Society’s Gazette, 19th September 2014
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Lord Chancellors should be recruited from the judiciary and no longer combine the role with that of justice secretary, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has argued.’
Legal Futures, 29th August 2014
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘As part of its inquiry into the office of Lord Chancellor, the Constitution Committee asks whether “new” (i.e. post-2003) Lord Chancellors have actually defended judicial independence in line with their customary and now statutory duty to do so. I was asked for examples earlier this summer when appearing before the Committee (with Andrew Le Sueur and Patrick O’Brien). I tried to identify some, but rather garbled my answer. Earlier in the year I also sketched some thoughts about Lord Chancellors in Public Law, but struggled to find clear-cut examples. One reason is that collective cabinet responsibility and the confidentiality of exchanges between Lord Chancellors and judges mean that outsiders will seldom have a full picture of what has occurred behind closed doors. This is unfortunate since my impression is that many lawyers assume—mistakenly, I think—that new Lord Chancellors are neither willing nor able to defend judicial independence. This post is hopefully third time lucky in correcting this assumption. By drawing on press reports, public statements and interviews that Robert Hazell, Kate Malleson, Patrick O’Brien and I conducted between 2011-2013, I want to piece together evidence that suggests that new Lord Chancellors can and do defend judicial independence.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 18th August 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org/blog
‘Legal aid, judicial review and the role of the Lord Chancellor dominated the headlines last week – with the Operation Cotton case and the Joint Committee on Human Right’s report on judicial review putting increasing pressure on the Government’s reforms.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 6th May 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘A legally qualified Lord Chancellor would not have put in place the recent personal injury changes and court fee reform proposals, the new president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has claimed.’
Litigation Futures, 6th May 2014
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
“The second salvo in the Government’s war against Judicial Review was launched last week. At least, that is what you may think after reading the Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling’s fire-breathing op-ed in the Daily Mail, in which he gets within a whisker of saying Judicial Review was invented by Karl Marx to ferment socialist revolution.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 9th September 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“Speech given by Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP. Originally given at Judges Dinner 2013.This is the text of the speech as drafted, which may differ slightly from the delivered version.”
Ministry of Justice, 4th July 2013
Source: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice
“On 12 June 2003 a minor constitutional revolution began with the resignation of Lord Irvine as Lord Chancellor and the announcement of a package of reforms including the abolition of his office and the creation of a Supreme Court, later to become the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (CRA). To commemorate the tenth anniversary of these events, the Judicial Independence Project held a private seminar on 12 June 2013 at which some of those directly involved in the changes spoke about the experience and the effects it has had on constitutional change. A note of the seminar is available here. In part the seminar brought out the drama and the comedy of the day itself. An old friendship ended in acrimony: Irvine had been the Prime Minister’s pupil master and had introduced him to his wife. At the same time the senior judiciary, at an away day with civil servants, were taken by surprise by the announcement and had to have the details explained to them whilst they huddled, increasingly angry, around a single phone in a country pub.”
UK Constitutional Law Group, 26th June 2013
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
“Former lord chancellor suggests the human rights court will be the architect of its own demise as the former president recalls its achievements.”
The Guardian, 14th November 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Britain would be left comparable to ‘Belarus’ if it abandoned the European Court on Human Rights, Dominic Grieve has warned.”
Daily Telegraph, 9th October 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has blamed the popular press for putting thousands of criminals in jail who do not need to be there.”
Daily Telegraph, 23rd May 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2023