This Friday marks the conclusion of my term as Secretary of the Criminal Bar Association. It has been a privilege to serve in a role at the heart of the CBA’s work on professional culture, wellbeing and systemic improvement across the criminal Bar. It has also been a sobering vantage point from which to observe both the fragility and the resilience of the system we are entrusted to serve.
The office of Secretary is not ceremonial. It is exacting and, at times, unforgiving. It encompasses representing the Association nationally; engaging with ministers, officials and justice stakeholders; contributing to policy consultations; negotiating on fees; meeting Members of Parliament; and, on occasion, speaking publicly on behalf of the profession- occasionally with encouragement from the CBA’s indefatigable communications director.
The role demands diligence, discretion and a steadfast commitment to governance, strategy and clear communication. No Secretary discharges those responsibilities alone. I have been fortunate to have had the constant support and wise counsel of my predecessors, of former Chairs and of the Executive. Their guidance has been invaluable.
We practise at a time of sustained and acute pressure on every part of the criminal justice system. Chronic under-investment, crumbling court infrastructure, intolerable delay, diminishing real-terms remuneration and the steady attrition of experienced practitioners have combined to create a crisis which is no longer episodic but structural. The consequences are borne not only by those who work within the system, but by complainants, defendants and witnesses- and, ultimately, by public confidence in the rule of law.
Behind those abstractions lie human consequences. Talented junior practitioners continue to leave publicly funded criminal work, not for want of commitment, but for want of sustainability. The pipeline of future leaders of this profession- and of the judiciary- depends upon a viable and respected criminal Bar. Without it, the system will not merely struggle; it will diminish.
Most troubling of all is the incremental encroachment upon the right to trial by jury- a right that is not a procedural ornament but a constitutional safeguard. Proposals which seek to dilute or sidestep jury trial in the name of expediency must be recognised for what they are: responses to systemic failure that risk sacrificing principle for short-term administrative relief. Efficiency cannot be permitted to eclipse fairness. Once eroded, constitutional protections are seldom restored in full.
Trial by jury is not an historical indulgence. It is the means by which the citizen participates directly in the administration of justice and by which the state’s power to prosecute is held to account. It is a visible expression of the compact between the individual and the state. To curtail it in response to administrative strain risks normalising temporary expedients as permanent constitutional settlement.
The criminal Bar has never resisted reform for reform’s sake. We understand the need for modernisation, for proportionality and for responsible stewardship of public funds. But reform must strengthen- not recalibrate beyond recognition- the essential architecture of justice. It must enhance, not imperil, the right of every citizen to a fair and public hearing before an independent tribunal and, where Parliament has long decreed it, before a jury of one’s peers.
The criminal Bar will always engage constructively with those who seek genuine reform. But we cannot- and should not- acquiesce in measures that weaken the foundations of justice under the guise of efficiency.
My time as Secretary has reaffirmed a simple but enduring truth: the criminal Bar’s greatest strength lies in its members and in our shared commitment to its future. We are independent practitioners, but we are not isolated actors. Our collective voice matters. Our unity matters. Our willingness to defend fundamental principles- courteously, firmly and without apology- matters.
The months ahead will require more than resolve; they will require engagement. They will require the profession to speak with clarity and, where necessary, to stand firm in defence of fair remuneration, sustainable practice and the preservation of constitutional safeguards, including the right to trial by jury.
I leave this role confident, not because the challenges are small, but because the commitment of the profession is great. I urge colleagues across the Bar- of every call, every practice area and every circuit- to lend their full support to the CBA and to its officers. The defence of our system of justice is the shared responsibility of us all.
Unity and principle will be essential if the criminal justice system- and the rule of law upon which it rests- is to retain public confidence.
