I read the 14 April Gazette and in particular Boris Kremer’s brief but fabulous analogy comparing the main protagonist in some Rudyard Kipling works with the mastermind behind the Jackson reforms.
This induced mixed emotions of amusement, sadness and frustration bordering on disbelief. The changes that were suggested by Lord Woolf paid due deference to the revered history of our legal system and its evolution, whereas the ‘reforms’ mapped out by Sir Rupert Jackson appear to reflect lots of blue-sky thinking. As such, a sensible approach would have been to cherry-pick any good ideas therein (without prejudice) and politely regard the rest of that report as food for thought.
Slavishly adopting those proposals has caused unnecessary upheaval and massive discontent within the rank and file of our profession. More importantly, achieving justice is no longer the focus of our civil proceedings and access to legal remedy is being put out of reach for large parts of society.
So, perhaps another apposite literary comparison would be The Emperor’s New Clothes, a cautionary tale with an inconclusive ending.
Glyn Hannaford, Hannaford and Co, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
