Why Change Now?
02 / 12 / 2010.
The decision of the British Legal Association to stand down now will puzzle many, but there are good reasons for it:-
A. the first is to use the seemingly limited resources available to the profession to the best possible effect. It is true that for well over a decade the BLA, particularly through the skills of their Chairman, have campaigned successfully in letters and articles in the press, but other necessary activities have diminished. It is now vital to rally and deploy effectively all who oppose the over-commercializ
ation of the legal system and the virtual exclusion of so many people in need from proper access to the courts, tribunals and other legal remedies. Moreover,the robust
independence – and economic viability – of legal practitioners is threatened as much now as at any time in the past.
B. Secondly, lawyers with the right spirit and will to resist and overcome these encroachments and vindicate the traditional guiding principles of our profession need to be mobilized.
C. Thirdly, this prompts three questions:-
1. Who are they?
2. How will they be spurred to act? and
3. who will start the campaigning?
The answers will come eventually,but the sooner lawyers unite for the purpose, the sooner the current failures and evils will be checked.In 46 years the B.L.A have achieved much,frustrating the ill-starred bid to take over the registration of land,
achieving the democratization of the Law Society, fostering freedom of discussion and debate within the profession, providing guidance and help to solicitors facing ethical and disciplinary problems, helping to revise the Law Society’s constitutional
system, stressing both the unity of the profession and its unity of purpose and cooperating with a wide range of bodies with similar aims and policies. Three principles have remained constant:-
[i] furthering the cause of justice;
[ii] trying to achieve social justice for all; and
[iii] fostering the independence of legal practitioners, and their economic welfare and stability, in order to achieve [i] and [ii].
As the BLA stand down, others need to continue these policies, especially the Sole Practitioners Group, the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group and the solicitors’ representative body, the Law Society, with all of whom the B.L.A. have had good and friendly relations. There are, of course, many other organizations who share similar views and concerns, but the three just named are the ones who appear most likely to lead the struggle against excessive commercialization, false economies and arbitrary
rule.
Michael B. Buck.
The decision of the British Legal Association to stand down now will puzzle many, but there are good reasons for it:-
A. the first is to use the seemingly limited resources available to the profession to the best possible effect. It is true that for well over a decade the BLA, particularly through the skills of their Chairman, have campaigned successfully in letters and articles in the press, but other necessary activities have diminished. It is now vital to rally and deploy effectively all who oppose the over-commercializ
ation of the legal system and the virtual exclusion of so many people in need from proper access to the courts, tribunals and other legal remedies. Moreover,the robust
independence – and economic viability – of legal practitioners is threatened as much now as at any time in the past.
B. Secondly, lawyers with the right spirit and will to resist and overcome these encroachments and vindicate the traditional guiding principles of our profession need to be mobilized.
C. Thirdly, this prompts three questions:-
1. Who are they?
2. How will they be spurred to act? and
3. who will start the campaigning?
The answers will come eventually,but the sooner lawyers unite for the purpose, the sooner the current failures and evils will be checked.In 46 years the B.L.A have achieved much,frustrating the ill-starred bid to take over the registration of land,
achieving the democratization of the Law Society, fostering freedom of discussion and debate within the profession, providing guidance and help to solicitors facing ethical and disciplinary problems, helping to revise the Law Society’s constitutional
system, stressing both the unity of the profession and its unity of purpose and cooperating with a wide range of bodies with similar aims and policies. Three principles have remained constant:-
[i] furthering the cause of justice;
[ii] trying to achieve social justice for all; and
[iii] fostering the independence of legal practitioners, and their economic welfare and stability, in order to achieve [i] and [ii].
As the BLA stand down, others need to continue these policies, especially the Sole Practitioners Group, the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group and the solicitors’ representative body, the Law Society, with all of whom the B.L.A. have had good and friendly relations. There are, of course, many other organizations who share similar views and concerns, but the three just named are the ones who appear most likely to lead the struggle against excessive commercialization, false economies and arbitrary
rule.
Michael B. Buck.
Labels: Legal Affairs
posted by Michael Buck at 3:01 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home