The Global Law Summit v Not the Global Law Summit
Karl Turner MP
Shadow Solicitor General
I will not attend the hypocritical
Global Law Summit even if they’d asked me, which in fact they did
The 23rd February marks the
start of the Global Law Summit in London with the pretence of commemorating 800
years since Magna Carta and the introduction of the rule of law in Britain. The
actual anniversary falls in June, however the Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling
has brought the event forward, to just before the election to try and make
political capital out of the anniversary. It also marks the point at which the
Government will be beyond satire when it comes to Justice. The hypocrisy of a
Coalition Government that wants to extol the virtues of British Justice whilst
at the same time dismantling the Legal Aid system and systematically
restricting access to the Courts is astounding.
Given the Coalition Government’s sell
off of Royal Mail I thought that perhaps my invitation may have been lost in
the post. I do however have it on the highest authority that I was in fact sent
an invite, nevertheless, I will not be attending as I cannot abide the
falseness of the proposed event
The event is designed to showcase
British Justice to the world, but at prices of up to £1,750 for a ticket, only
the rich and well off will be able to attend. This is a perfect reflection of
this government’s out of touch attitude. A telling giveaway of the event’s real
intention to “facilitate business networks and access to key industry
decision makers”. So the event isn’t about the celebration of
British Justice, it is a schmooze-fest aimed at connecting rich commercial
lawyers with big business and politicians.
This government’s approach to the rule
of law is completely contrary to the values with which Magna Carta is
associated. This week saw the Criminal Justice Bill receive Royal Assent in
Parliament. The Bill aims to severely curtail Judicial Review, the measure with
which civil society can use to challenge Government decisions. Again, this is
another assault on the rule of law which should not go unnoticed and should not
go unchallenged.
Instead of this sham event, I will be attending the real deal the
‘Not the Global Law Summit’ whose events include a march from Runnymede to
Westminster, a protest outside Parliament and a ‘Stand Up For Legal Aid Event’.
Magna Carta declares that “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or
delay, right or justice”. If we look
at the Coalition government, they have done exactly that.
I cannot in good conscience attend an event that
goes against everything the rule of law stands for. The Global Law Summit will
be attended by people being used as Chris Grayling’s patsies, I hope that they can
see the hypocrisy of the event and stay away. I will not hold my breath.
Dinah Rose QC;
Leading Civil Rights lawyer
David Cameron: “Magna Carta , ooh I
know this one , err is it…? No just give me minute, um, oh I had it a second
ago, err no, no, I give up . What is it? ”
“This Government has eviscerated legal
aid, restricted judicial review, and proposes massive increases in court fees
which will bar the door of the Court to most people in this country. Now it
says it wants to celebrate Magna Carta. It must be assumed that, as David
Cameron admitted on American TV, it doesn’t understand what Magna Carta means.”
Camilla Graham Wood: Young Legal Aid
Lawyers
Can’t go won’t go
“Grayling's cuts to legal aid and changes to judicial review have shown how little he knows or cares about the need for everyone to have access to justice irrespective of wealth, and the importance of holding the State to account. These are values which can be traced back to the original Magna Carta. The fact that Grayling is leading the sham celebration of 800 years of Magna Carta at the Global Law Summit - which incidentally not one single Young Legal Aid Lawyer, or legally aided client, would be able to afford to go to - whilst decimating access to justice, is an affront to this history and to the Rule of Law."
Bill Waddington: Chairman of the
Criminal Law Solicitors Association
Access no areas
“800 years ago the Magna Carta laid down the foundation stones of the Rule of Law, a system of Justice with access to all. Since then our system has been exported to most parts of the world. In 2015 the Lord Chancellor's demolition squad moved in to prevent a huge proportion of the population from having access to Justice by unsustainable cuts to civil and criminal legal aid with more to come, Court closures with more to come and extravagant hikes in Court fees, preventing all but the very rich from access to Justice and representation . There is no better example of this than the cost of the tickets for the Global Law Summit, priced at £1750 per head). At £1750 per head, we surely now have the most expensive Global Law Summit in the world. ”
Jon Black:
President of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association
Timesharing Magna Carta
“There is a
time and a place to sell the UK and its legal system. At a time when austerity
measures are causing widespread suffering this is no time to show off,
particularly using Magna Carta, the cornerstone of our system of rights as a
vehicle for doing so. If the Magna Carta was such an important theme of this
conference and our legal system something of great pride, we would expect the MOJ
to be inviting their overseas guests inside our court rooms so that they could
showcase our modern and progressive justice system that they are seeking to sell.
The reality is they know how embarrassing it would be to see courts not sitting,
defendants unrepresented, and the slow delivery of prisoners alongside
disillusioned lawyers, probation officers and judges. Like timeshare salesmen
they will only allow the show homes to be viewed. At least the translators
accompanying delegates may be available at short notice to fill in for the
absent interpreters at court.
Rebecca Herbert
Barrister and Committee member of the Criminal Bar Association
Standing
up for justice not sitting down at the Global Law Summit
I can’t speak to historical accuracy,
but the fact is, Magna Carta has become synonymous with rights. Most
particularly it has come to symbolise the empowerment of the weak by allowing
their unfettered access to the protection of the law, and a guarantee that discrimination
in favour of power, riches or influence has no place in our Courts. This is true cause for celebration.
That this celebration has been
cynically hijacked by this
government, this Lord Chancellor, at
this time, whilst unsurprising,
given its record for hypocrisy and cant, is about as unsavoury a political
spectacle as one can conceive – and let’s face it, it’s a high bar. This
government has done more than any before it to obstruct access to our Courts by
those in society most in need of them; it has done more than any before it to
wrongfully assert its power against those who would challenge it; and what is
more, it is utterly unrepentant, even triumphant about that. Some, more
forgiving than I, might say that the Lord Chancellor has no idea what he
does: I refuse to give him such
allowance. If he does not know, it is because he has wilfully refused to
listen, but I accuse him of more than that failure, and remind him and his
acolytes of this;
“Once you've built the big machinery
of political power, remember you won't always be the one to run it”. (P.J.O’Rourke)
So, no, I will not be part of party
political back slapping at £1750 a ticket, for the great and the good, to
congratulate themselves on the money to be made out of my legal system. I will
not celebrate the reductions in legal aid, the destruction of judicial review,
the annihilation of the Criminal Bar, and of scores of solicitors, the
devastation wreaked upon my colleagues in CPS, probation, prisons and police. I
will stand up, as should we all, with the Justice Alliance, in protest at the
mockery made of our cherished values, as Mr Grayling and his friends applaud
each other at the GLS.
Nicola Hill: Partner
at Kingsley Napley
You only
had one thing to do…
What a shame that the Lord Chancellor has taken something as important as the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and used it for political advantage; celebrating four months early in advance of a general election. A shame but not a surprise. This is the Lord Chancellor who has destroyed the one precious thing he was charged with protecting: the rule of law.
Russell Fraser:
Chair Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
The rule of law is not for sale
The Global Law
Summit is the true face of this government, its friends, and what it holds to
be important. It is a gathering for big business and is intended to promote London
Hester Russell: Partner at Harthills Solicitors and CLSA
Committee Member
Magna
Carta for all
I was raised in Hereford,
home of the Mappa Mundi and, of course, a 1217 version of the great Magna
Carta. For me Magna Carta is not about Global Leaders or International
Businesses; it is about individuals, it is about fairness, it is about equality
and it is about justice:-
"To no one will we sell,
to no one deny or delay right or justice".
If, like me, you recognise the irony of the £1,750 per ticket, Government Backed "Global Law Summit", exercise your democratic rights and join the Justice Alliance in standing against this revolting hypocrisy.
If, like me, you recognise the irony of the £1,750 per ticket, Government Backed "Global Law Summit", exercise your democratic rights and join the Justice Alliance in standing against this revolting hypocrisy.
Rhona Friedman:
Co-founder of Justice Alliance
From Magna Carta to market
One definition of a summit is a meeting of high-level leaders, usually called upon to shape a programme of action. What programme could emerge from the Global Law Summit? It can’t be a programme to improve access to justice and freedom of speech for ordinary people in the countries sending representatives to the event because otherwise panel sessions would have been addressed by a plethora of legal aid experts and civil rights lawyers from the UK and abroad. We may also have seen an entire session devoted to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which if it becomes treaty law will create secret courts, hearing cases in which transnational corporations will sue elected governments, reaching secret judgment completely outside the reach of the rule of law.
So no programme of
action on rule of law issues then but instead a “valuable opportunity to meet and do business” according to the Summit’s
co-chair. Do business leaders really
need the rule of law to flog their products? I’m not sure they do otherwise the
Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan wouldn’t have been invited. You can read about
that country’s attitude to the rule of law here:
The first morning
of the Summit starts with a key note address by the current Lord Chancellor, the
two year report card on his attitude to access to justice and state accountability,
both guarantors of the rule of law, has been well and truly marked by others. Lord
Green was until the recent excitement due to have appeared alongside him on the
platform. He was boss of HSBC when the rule of hiding assets from the tax
authorities and from criminal justice apparently took precedence over the rule
of law.
After the key
note speeches comes panel session one Business
and the Rule of Law. The Chair of BAe Systems has been chosen to sit on
this panel which may be sensible scheduling by the organisers because he can be
asked questions about how in 2010 the rule of law in the UK and US cost his
business nearly £300m in fines for criminal behaviour. BAe Systems set a UK record
for a corporate criminal fine which may or may not be what the organisers had
in mind when they themed the event around “Law
at the heart of 21st Century Business.”
It is clear that Magna
Carta and the rule of law have been plastered on to this jamboree as mere
branding stickers for the event. Why don’t they just drop the pretence and be
unashamedly direct in their direct marketing and call it what it is: “The
London Law Marketplace”? Not the “Davos
of law” but speed dating with nibbles for corporate lawyers queuing up to
speak to a man (they will mostly be men) who knows a man who is close to the
Big Man who wants to sell off a state asset or enter into a contract for telecoms
or buy riot control equipment to quell those pesky campaigners at home who want
rule by law founded upon the rule of law.
Justice Alliance
is heartened that so many people – lawyers and non lawyers, have seen through
the artifice and have spoken out against the hypocrisy of the Ministry of
Justice co-hosting this event at a time when the government has embarked upon an
unprecedented attack on access to justice and civil liberties.
From 21st
February onwards we will be holding King John Grayling to account not with the
military threat of the barons but with people speaking truth to power,
accompanied by 13th Century tunes, some capering fools and most importantly
Magna Carta. Join us either on our Relay for Rights on the 21st
–to the morning of 23rd February or at Not the Global Law Summit from 1pm at Old Palace Yard, Westminster.
Please see our
website for more details.
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