2020: Year in review

Kapil Summan

In January lawyers gathered at the Signet Library in Edinburgh to hear from Philippe Sands QC on the plight of the Chagos Islanders and Britain’s refusal to allow them to return home. We would hear from Professor Sands again a few months later, but in quite different circumstances.

Judicial assistants from the Supreme Court visited Parliament House in February in one of the last in-person events in the legal calendar. While they undoubtedly will not be coming next year, you can read about the experiences of two JAs here.

The first legislative surprise occurred at the end of March, when the Scottish government casually attempted to “dismantle in one fell swoop more than 600 years of legal principle”. It would not be the first time this year that the government was to publish a bill altogether more daft than draft.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service made a herculean effort over Easter to bring the digital infrastructure up to speed for civil justice and has continued to develop it since.

The Roberton Report made an appearance again but lawyers rejected the “poorly researched” CMA endorsement of it. The response, from the Scottish Law Agents’ Society, was one of many that body made this year. We look forward to more from them in 2021.

Licensing lawyers have grappled all year with the ever-changing rules affecting the hospitality industry. TLT’s Stephen McGowan has not missed a beat in this area.

In a lighter moment, SLN asked readers in June for their favourite Scots law expression. It was avizandum. Jim Spence translated it from the Latin: “I’ll muse on this case over eighteen holes”.

In July, Roddy Dunlop QC became Dean of Faculty and has since done his fellow members proud. He most recently set the UK government straight on the function of a lawyer, such are the times.

Former Supreme Court justice, Lord Sumption, said he had broken the coronavirus rules, in an admission that would have hailed from another dimension in 2019.

In August, weekend courts were suggested as a means of addressing the backlog of cases but were rightly met with contempt.

Lord Keen stepped down as Advocate General for Scotland when the UK government declared that it would break international law in a “specific and limited way”. SLN’s editorial on the matter reached the corridors of power in Westminster itself. 

Our intern Kate profiled the founder of a new initiative to help aspiring lawyers while Casus Omissus came to the rescue in Tayside and Perthshire with the announcement in September of a new project to fill the access-to-justice gap.

In signs perhaps of an American turn amongst the British judiciary, another Supreme Court justice spoke out – just to say we may be on the verge of tyranny. Lord Neuberger’s warnings were followed by those of Lord Hope and Lord Sumption. The latter’s book is important for understanding the UK’s ongoing constitutional uncertainty.

Last month we had the privilege of publishing a piece on Archibald Stewart, written by his grandson, retired judge Lord Stewart. We also remembered the Nuremberg Trials, on their 75th anniversary, which stirred memories from the Faculty too.

A study by academics at University College London, using real jurors, cast serious doubt on the efficacy of mock juries. We look forward to seeing what the Scottish government makes of the research before it advances plans for criminal justice reform next year. We also await the results of a study by academics at the Open University on the profession’s attitude to reform.

A fascinating book by author Ian Mitchell, The Justice Factory: Can the Rule of Law Survive in 21st Century Scotland?, suggests Scotland is a hotbed of illiberality and is becoming a Rechtstaat, in the authoritarian, Russian sense. And he would know, he lived there for 12 years. He followed it up with a documentary detailing his fears over the Hate Crime Bill. A book on Russia is also in the works.

The US this week brought charges against a Libyan man in connection with the Lockerbie bombing, on the 32nd anniversary of the atrocity. It is thought that, for Attorney General William Barr, Lockerbie represents unfinished business: he held the same role in 1991 when he announced the original charges. Aamer Anwar, solicitor for the Megrahi family, whose challenge to the conviction of the late Abdelbaset al-Megrahi no doubt upsets the impending US prosecutions, has risen to the occasion with his usual fearlessness.

In a heartening end to the year, the legal community raised £11,000 for the Faculty’s annual Christmas fundraiser. It was a “tear-inducing success”.

Finally, the Scottish government lent a helping hand to the legal aid sector – it only took a strike by lawyers in the middle of the worst pandemic in 100 years. Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf announced a £20m support package for the profession. Nevertheless, not everyone was quite convinced.

We are very grateful to all our readers and advertisers, especially this year. With an election on the horizon, guaranteed legal aid woes and the probable introduction of more eccentric legislation, we are steeling ourselves for 2021. We hope you will join us.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Kapil Summan

Editor