AUTUMN 2004 Officers President Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC Deputy-President Joyce Arram Chairman Jonathan Marks QC Vice Chairmen David Ive David Owen-Jones Treasurer Lynne Ravenscroft Secretary Jo Jackson Committee HH John Baker John Burnett MP Leslie Dubow Jo Hayes Tim Jones John Lambert Jonathan Mitchell James Sandbach Joanna Shaw Lord Phillips of Sudbury Steven Rhodes www.libdemlawyers.org.uk	A RIGHT TO JUSTICE – CONFERENCE BACKS LDLA PROPOSALS The Liberal Democrats Autumn Conference in Bournemouth unanimously carried a motion on civil legal aid based on the proposals for reform put forward by the LDLA's working group on Access to Justice. The motion attacked the deterioration of the civil legal aid system since the Access to Justice Act, noting the inadequacy of funding, the reduction in the number of solicitors' offices undertaking publicly funded work, and the development of widespread advice deserts. There was criticism also of the rationing system inherent in the contracting regime, of the rates paid for legal aid work, which had fallen to “deterrent levels,” and of the “pervasive and inflexible bureaucracy”, which had driven many of the best solicitors and advice agencies away from publicly funded work. The motion also drew attention to the way in which the budget for important areas of social welfare law had been squeezed by increases in priority spending on criminal and asylum cases, which is necessarily demand-led. Among the LDLA's proposals endorsed by the Conference were calls: to establish a Department of Justice, with the resourcing and organisation of publicly funded legal services (Continued Overleaf)
AUTUMN CONFERENCE ( continued ) as a key responsibility; to ring fence the civil legal aid budget in order to stop increases in priority spending on criminal and asylum cases reducing the remaining civil budget; to end the rationing system for new cases and substitute a set of criteria by which cases would qualify for funding; to substitute for the present contracts a flexible system of agreements, tailored to the skills and capacity of service providers; to establish a national network of call centres and community justice centres; to encourage the development of outreach centres in remote areas; to regulate conditional fee agreements more effectively. Moving the motion, Lord Goodhart QC, Liberal Democrat Shadow Lord Chancellor and Lords Spokesperson on Constitutional Affairs, recalled the days when the LDLA at its Annual Dinner used to drink a toast to “The Legal Aid Fund”, but regretted that this was no longer possible . He pointed out that the Access to Justice Act had led to large areas of the country being deprived of publicly funded legal services. In closing the debate LDLA Chair, Jonathan Marks QC , said that there was no point in legislating for human rights or social welfare if citizens were deprived of the opportunity of enforcing their rights in Court. Former LDLA secretary, Emily Gasson, now North Dorset PPC, spoke of the “Justice season” in her field, housing law in Dorset , which ended when local solicitors ran out of their allocations of new matter starts. Other LDLA speakers in the debate included Sue Baring, former Chair of the British Institute of Human Rights, a member of the working group, Jonathan Mitchell and Dr Shehnaz Somjee. The “Right to Justice” debate was followed up with a fringe meeting in Bournemouth at which the policy paper produced by the Working Group and entitled “A Right to Justice” was presented. The panel comprised three members of the Working Group, Lord Phillips of Sudbury , James Sandbach of Citizens Advice, who acted as rapporteur for the Group, and Sue Bucknall, Chair of the Citizens Pro Bono Group, together with Lord Goodhart QC. A lively discussion was chaired by LDLA and Working Group Chair, Jonathan Marks QC . The proposals in the Working Paper were also the subject of an interview on Radio 4 given by Janet Paraskeva, Chief Executive of the Law Society, who gave evidence to the Working Group, which coincided with the Conference debate . The Law Society also hosted a reception in Bournemouth to discuss public funding for civil advice and assistance. The reception was attended and addressed by Fiona Woolf CBE, a partner in C M S Cameron McKenna, this year's Deputy Vice President of the Law Society and due to become President in 2006. Copies of “A Right to Justice”, the paper produced by the LDLA Working Group, may be obtained from the Secretary, Jo Jackson, 9 Beech Grove, Gosport, Hampshire PO12 2EJ, e-mail joldlaadsec@aol.com
		80 CLUB LECTURE ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM Lord Justice David Keene took as his title “Changing the Constitution: the Executive, the Judiciary and the John Adams Problem” when he gave the 2004 80 Club Lecture in Portcullis House on 23 June. Lord Justice Keene expressed concern that the Lord Chancellor's replacement by a career politician would imperil the independence of the Judiciary from the Executive. He explained the reference in the title of his lecture to the John Adams problem: John Adams was the second President of the United States , who appointed 42 justices of the peace just before leaving office. In refusing to uphold one of the warrants of appointment after Adams' departure , the Supreme Court established the doctrine of judicial supremacy under the Constitution. But the case also illustrated the danger that judicial appointments made by the Executive might be or at least appear to be partisan. Lord Justice Keene also supported the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Commission and a new Supreme Court. His support was qualified by the proviso that for all senior judicial appointments only one candidate should be nominated by the Commission for the Government to appoint or reject, rather than a shortlist which would enable a political choice to be made. The full text of Lord Justice Keene's lecture was published in the summer edition of The Legal Democrat and is to be found on the LDLA website at www.libdemlawyers.org.uk				MUNT TO CHAIR WORKING GROUP ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Solicitor, Tessa Munt, PPC for Wells, is to chair a working group on domestic violence for the LDLA. The decision to establish the working group was taken following the fringe meeting at Southport on this topic and the wide divergence of views expressed there. The remit of the working group will be: to examine ways in which the civil and criminal law can be developed so as best to combat the scourge of domestic violence, against men as well as women and children; to look at problems of access to the courts and the unwillingness of victims to seek help; to consider how best to co-ordinate the work of the courts and that of other agencies in combating domestic violence and helping its victims . If you would like to join this Working Group, please contact the Secretary, Jo Jackson, on e-mail joldlaadsec@aol.com
					CONGRATULATIONS .......... To LDLA member, Simon Hughes MP , on being elected President of the Liberal Democrats in succession to Lord (Navnit) Dholakia , another LDLA member. To Jody Dunn , barrister, on an excellent result in the Hartlepool by-election. To Diana Wallis, MEP , on her re-election to the European Parliament
		40 To Go.......... LDLA Launches Recruitment Drive In Bid To Win SAO Status With 210 members, the LDLA is 40 members short of the 250 required to qualify for the status of a Specified Associated Organisation of the Liberal Democrats. An application for SAO status is planned as soon as the qualifying figure is obtained. The Association will then be able to put motions to conference in its own name, rather than having to rely on members' local parties to submit them. The drive is on to identify and approach all lawyers within the Liberal Democrats who are not already Association members. The Association is now in good financial health and is very active in the development of party policy in the legal field, with a full diary of worthwhile events. A membership application form is included with this newsletter and every member is encouraged to recruit a colleague. Members do not have to be lawyers – any party member with an interest in the law or the administration of justice is welcome to join. Further membership application forms are available from the Secretary: Jo Jackson, 9 Beech Grove, Gosport , Hampshire PO12 2EJ, e-mail joldlaadsec@aol.com					ANNUAL DINNER MOVES TO LORDS – GARDEN TO SPEAK The 2005 Annual Dinner of the LDLA will be held in a new venue, the Cholmondley Room in the House of Lords. Sponsored by LDLA committee member and Liberal Democrat Peer, Lord Phillips of Sudbury , the dinner will take place on Thursday 13 January 2005 . The guest speaker will be Lord Garden , former Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff, who recently became a Liberal Democrat peer, and is closely involved in developing foreign and security policy for the Liberal Democrats.
	FORTHCOMING EVENTS Monday 6 December 2004 AGM at 6 pm at 4 Pump Court , Temple , London EC4 (Calling Notice attached) Thursday 13 January 2005 Annual Dinner, Cholmondley Room, House of Lords 10-13 March 2005 Liberal Democrat Spring Conference, Newcastle Fringe Meeting to be announced.