More bathroom battles

Your article on the battle for women’s facilities at the Law Society (‘Answering the call’, 6 September) brought back all sorts of memories.

 

When I got the City of London Solicitors’ Company prize for my finals exams in 1968, the letter from the Law Society was addressed to ‘Jennifer Cohen Esq.’.

 

In answer to my query, they admitted I was the first woman to get it and apologised. Mind you, by the time I received it I was married and thought my elegant going-away outfit was ideal to wear for the ceremony. Obviously, it was 1960s style and above the knees, but even so the middle-aged solicitors at the ceremony had no cause for some of the whispered comments they made because I was not in a grey suit!

 

By 1969 when I was admitted the members’ toilets were satisfactory. But there was a complete lack of facilities for lady Council members. I was elected in 1986 and was the third woman (only one was still on the Council). We went to the other end of the building to find appropriate rooms. However, after a few years a new lady would not have it and went into the gents outside. Within weeks they were divided in two. It was the same lady who quietly breastfed her baby in a Council meeting a year later. Reaction was mixed, as is difficult to imagine nowadays.

 

I was privileged to be on many committees and working parties. One of the latter was ‘Women in the law’, which had some very high-ranking (or to become such) lady lawyers on it. Its findings and recommendations got much press attention.  

 

I realised it was time for me to step down as a Council member when, at a plenary in 2002, I entered the chamber to cries of ‘Hello Mummy’. Much to my surprise I had become the longest-serving member and the thought of having to chair it if both president and vice president were unable to was a bit too much.

 

Jennifer Israel

Barnet

 

Unreliable narrator

It is difficult to follow the logic in Maia Cohen-Lask’s article (‘Is excluding the complainant fair to the defendant?’, 6 September) complaining about the prosecution decision in DPP v Barton not to call the victim.

 

The writer claims there was no basis for assessing the victim as ‘unreliable’. Yet the victim herself said that her original complaint to the police was unreliable: that came from her own mouth.

 

Cohen-Lask writes first that the complainant was ‘unlikely to have given a reliable account’ and then in the very same sentence goes on to say that there was no good reason for the prosecution to regard her as incapable of belief.

 

If the complainant herself states that she was incapable of belief surely the prosecution was entitled to take the same view?

 

Incidentally, I assume that in these circumstances the defence could have called the victim as a witness, if they were so anxious for her to give evidence about how unreliable she was.

 

Peter Bolwell

Hastings

 

Guidance on habeas corpus

Dr Laura Janes’ article was a useful reminder to all criminal law solicitors (‘New release provisions for prisoners and what they mean in practice’, 29 August).

 

As someone who has issued habeas corpus proceedings several times over the last 43 years specialising in criminal law, I would make the following comments.

 

First, whenever I issued these proceedings, I did so pro bono. These are civil proceedings issued in the King’s Bench Division. The speed with which these proceedings need to be issued means that there is not enough time to worry about funding. This has two implications: you will not get paid for a lot of urgent work; and you will not be reimbursed for any court fees. When I issued these proceedings, there were no court fees. I do not know if that is still the position.

 

Second, what one issues is an application for permission to apply for the writ. Normally that application is heard ex parte in open court, requiring a Higher Courts (Civil Proceedings) qualification.

 

Third, these can be issued at any time of day or night, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. I remember issuing one on the Saturday of a bank holiday weekend, through the duty High Court judge, via a number that used to be kept at the Royal Courts of Justice gatekeeper’s lodge.

 

Fourth, has the Law Society ever issued any guidance, tips or courses on this very important topic? I do not believe I have ever seen any during my practising career. Given its importance, how about one or more free videos on the subject that practitioners can bookmark in case they ever need to refer to them?

 

Steven Jonas

Partner, Jonas Roy Bloom, Birmingham

Topics