News feature

Representing CILEx at start of the 2019 Legal Year

CILEx President Matthew Foster led a deputation that attended the service, and subsequent Lord Chancellor’s Breakfast, to mark the opening of the Legal Year.

It was an honour to represent CILEx at a service to mark the Opening of the Legal Year at Westminster Abbey on 1 October. I was joined by Craig Tickner, CILEx Vice-President, Professor Chris Bones, Chair of CILEx Board, and Stuart Dalton, Director of Policy, Governance and Enforcement at CILEx Regulation.

An interesting sermon was given by the Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, who was installed as the Bishop of London in May 2018, on justice and its role in creating a fairer society where those at greatest disadvantage can find a route to fairer outcomes and better treatment. She reminded us that justice comes from a careful and considered reflection on the meaning of law and the importance of the rule of law, including the supremacy of an elected parliament. Justice was not about longer sentences and more prisons, but about the creation of a fairer system supported by the resolution of the issues in society that drive the challenges we currently face.

An independent legal profession

Craig Tickner noted that one of the standout points of the event was to see so many representatives from across the professions, whether in practising or judicial roles, turning out and sending one clear message: in a time of political turmoil, the independence of the legal profession remains, and will always remain, no matter what individual political views may be held. The respect for the law was clear to see.

Access to justice

Chris Bones reflected that we need to take a clear and unambiguous position through our education, CPD, and our wider communications with influencers and the public at large. This will reinforce the importance of an independent judiciary, appointed for their professional excellence, who can enable any citizen to hold to account anyone with power in our society where they act unreasonably, unfairly or in direct breach of the rule of law. There is no place for party politics in an effective justice system nor for placing unreasonable obstacles in the way of any citizen getting the financial support they need to access justice.

Pivotal role of the rule of law

Stuart Dalton said that the Opening of the Legal Year was a truly humbling and moving experience. To take part in a ceremony dating back to the Middle Ages vividly brought to life the pivotal role the rule of law has in our society and with it the part CILEx and CILEx Regulation must play.

With the ceremony coming so closely after the Supreme Court Brexit ruling, and the sermon recognising the unenviable weight of responsibility this places on the judiciary, which was made all the more real by the pro- and anti-Brexit demonstrations outside as we filed from the Abbey to Westminster Palace.

Meeting the Lord Chancellor

As we met Robert Buckland QC MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, at the reception after the ceremony, he was eager to remind us that he had been clear in acknowledging and championing Chartered Legal Executives. In October 2017, as the then Solicitor General, he was a keynote speaker at the CILEx Graduation and Admission Ceremony.