It is no surprise to me that the bar insists on judicial evaluation of advocates. When the barrister-judge starts the trial in open court by offering the solicitor-advocate his spare wig, you have little doubt of the bias that we will endure at the hands of many barrister-judges within the evaluation system.

Judges are not robotically programmed to be pure. Many of them carry to the bench the prejudices against solicitors that informed their careers at the bar.

What of the impact of judicial evaluation on the independence of both sides of the profession? Are all judges really going to reward those advocates who stand up to their mistakes (and sometimes rudeness) with ‘brownie points’ on the evaluation form?I gave a lecture on ethics to Russian lawyers recently and even there, of all places, they were amazed that we should adopt such a risky system. If a future government made encroachments on the appointment of judges, who in turn evaluate the advocates, then we will all be doomed.

Lionel Blackman, Lionel Blackman Solicitors, Epsom