Issue 211  18th September 2021

Qualified solicitor Dominic Raab MP was today named as justice secretary following the dismissal of Robert Buckland MP QC in Boris Johnson’s reshuffle. Buckland had held the role since July 2019 and faced controversies over constitutional reform and delays in the justice system. Raab was also named deputy prime minister. He will be the eighth lord chancellor since the Conservatives came in to government in 2010. The Ministry of Justice said that no date had been set for his swearing in.

The Prime Minister has appointed Alex Chalk MP as Solicitor General. The Solicitor General will oversee the work of the Law Officers’ Departments which include the Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office, as well as the Government Legal Department and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate. The Solicitor General also carries out a number of functions in the public interest, such as considering unduly lenient sentences, and taking action when there has been a contempt of court. These functions are carried out independently of his role as a Government minister.

Justice ministers were bullish this week over the state of the crown courts in England and Wales as the government braces for another potential wave of the coronavirus. A row is bubbling, however, between the government and hundreds of part-time judges because of the number of sitting days per year that they are being encouraged to contribute in a bid to tackle a stubborn backlog of cases...

Recorders — QCs who sit as part-time judges — have told The Times that they are under pressure to increase their sitting days five-fold to tackle the problem of delayed trials. They have reported that correspondence from the judicial secretariat — which is overseen by the Courts Service and ultimately the Ministry of Justice — has pressed them to increase the number of days they sit in the crown courts from a minimum of 15 annually to 80...

Defence solicitors may be "poaching" clients accused of serious crimes to pocket substantial legal aid fees, a senior judge has claimed. Recorder of Bradford Richard Mansell QC expressed concerns about the number of defendants applying for a change of lawyer at the city's crown court. He spoke of widespread suspicion that a small number of firms were using "unscrupulous practices". Fees involved cost the taxpayer "many thousands of pounds", the judge said...

Judge Mansell said: "There is widespread suspicion in the criminal defence legal community that many of these applications are being initiated and driven, not by the defendants, but by the solicitors who stand to benefit." It was suspected that clients who were already adequately represented were being "tapped up" and "poached" with promises of a better service, he said, and that financial or other inducements were sometimes being offered to defendants to support the applications...

Dame Lynne Owens has announced her intention to retire from her position as Director General of the National Crime Agency, after 32 years of service to law enforcement. Lynne has led the NCA since January 2016 following a career that spanned three police forces, starting in 1989 when she joined the Metropolitan Police Service as a Constable. Prior to joining the NCA she was Chief Constable of Surrey Police.