Partisan lawyers who embrace their clients' causes are a threat to the rule of law, a shadow attorney general and former justice minister said yesterday. In a widely trailed speech to thinktank Policy Exchange, Lord Wolfson of Tredegar (David Wolfson KC) also lambasted the current attorney general over his approach to international law.
Wolfson, a commercial silk who resigned from Boris Johnson's government in 2022, said 'we do have a country governed by the rule of law but we should never take that for granted'. One risk, he said, is a dilution of respect caused by taking a maximalist or 'thicker' view of the rule of law.
Meanwhile, he said, the principle that all people deserve legal representation - the 'cab rank rule' - works only so long as lawyers are not identified with their clients. This is imperilled when lawyers publicly associate themselves with their clients' causes or act only on behalf of one type of client. 'Some barristers seem to be driving cabs with passengers who all want to go to the same destination,' he said.
'If we don't want to be bullied or attacked on account of our cleints, we shouldn't say "these cases are our cases". We should not attack those who support causes we do not support, or lionise causes with which we agree and which happen to be fashionable,' he added.
Wolfson also defended 'reasoned' political comment on judicial decisions 'so long as you play the ball and not the player'. He described as 'unfortunate' the lady chief justice's criticism of the prime minister and leader of the opposition last month for attacking an immigration judge's decision.
On the current attorney general, Lord Hermer, Wolfson said the government's 'uncritical obedience' to international treaties could allow ministers to bypass parliament in making laws. This would amount to a 'naked power grab by the executive,' he said.
This article is now closed for comment.
24 Readers' comments