What went on? An event round-up
What went on? An event round-up
Monday night of Justice Week kicked off with a panel of
journalists, PR and comms professionals tasked with explaining to
the legal sector how its campaigning on justice issues could be
improved. "A little less Latin, a little more real-world outcomes"
was the assessment from 38 Degrees Campaign Director Laura
Townshend; it's time to communicate with real people by telling
relatable stories.
Chaired by the Bright Blue's Matthew d'Ancona, the panel
included CEO and founder of Blurred PR agency Nik Govier (read her
write up of the event in PRWeek
here), legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg QC (hon), Rachel Krys
of the End Violence Against Women coalition, and veteran public
affairs specialist Jon McLeod.
On Tuesday morning at the APPG on Legal Aid, Chair of the Bar
Andrew Walker QC described Justice Minister (and fellow panellist)
Lucy Frazer's ideas for improving access to justice as 'tinkering'.
The Chair went on to tell Shadow Lord Chancellor Richard Burgon
that his party's policies on legal aid reform were 'modest'. "Now
is the time," said the Chair, "for serious political leadership on
justice at senior levels."
On Tuesday evening Chair-Elect Richard Atkins QC addressed the
CPS section of the FDA on the question: How do we maintain public
faith in the Criminal Justice System?
"The short answer," he said "is by funding it properly. And I
don't mean by giving more money to lawyers."
Research unveiled at Wednesday evening's Temple Church event
showed that justice cuts over the last 10 years have been taking
against a backdrop of increased Government spending, begging the
question: why was justice targeted? Panellists Caroline Goodwin QC,
Chair of the CBA, Fiona Scolding QC, Landmark Chambers, Shiva
Ancliffe, Coram Chambers, and Tom Royston, Garden Court North
shared their stories of the day-to-day injustices in the system and
the Bar Council showed its latest short film,
Justice Cuts: The stories behind the numbers.
Finally, Thursday night saw the return of last year's Chair of
the Bar, Andrew Langdon QC, to chair a discussion on Immigration
& the Rule of Law at Gray's Inn. A sold-out audience heard
compelling contributions from panellists Gracie Bradley of Liberty,
Adrian Berry of the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association and
Steve Valdez-Symonds of Amnesty.