With 100 days to go before the general election, there was a distinct end-of-an-era feel to last week’s appearance of the lord chief justice before the House of Commons Justice Committee. The Rt Hon Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd (for anyone needing help with the pronunciation, it’s ‘Right Honourable’) was in Portcullis House to answer questions on his annual report, published in December. No one was in a mood to press him hard, no doubt out of respect for constitutional convention, but also because the hard-working committee is clearly on its last lap.

Chair Sir Alan Beith (LibDem) has already announced his intention to step down in May, after more than 40 years in the house. Whatever the result of the election, Obiter is betting he will not be the only warhorse missing when a new committee is convened under the next parliament.  

Lord Thomas recognised this fact by making it clear that his call for an independent review of the regulatory regime set up under the Legal Services Act was for the benefit of the committee’s successors, not the members present. He also observed that if the current courts reform programme fails, it will ‘not be within life of the youngest person here’ before the opportunity arises again. As he was answering a question posed by the baby in the room, 36-year-old barrister and Conservative rising star Rehman Chishti, that is a sobering prospect.

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