Re-engineering Sources of Law for Unaided Litigants

The better models of e-Gov posit high levels of informational communication between citizen and state. Unfortunately, in one area, that communication has traditionally been poor: that is, access to sources of law. There have been a number of reasons for this, but a primary one has been that law was historically mediated for the citizen by the legal profession. This situation is changing with ever increasing numbers of unrepresented litigants being involved at all levels of national court systems in each and every country as well as a generally higher level of intrusion of legislation into everyday home and business life. There have been attempts to improve access through internet based services, but these have improved communication (‘understanding of law’) to only a limited extent. It may be time, this article suggests, to consider re-engineering legal sources so that they better fit the needs of eGov.

The Rank of Queen's Counsel: Judicial Perspectives

The rank of queen's counsel, granted under the royal prerogative, has been part of the architecture of the legal profession and legal system since 1594 but has undergone many changes in that time, including most recently the adoption of new selection procedures. Recent cases in Northern Ireland have raised the question - what is the legal position of queen's counsel? By examining decided cases in context, this paper aims to explain judicial perspectives on what it means to be a QC.

Women Lawyers and the Struggle for Change in Conflict and Transition

This article examines the particular experiences of female ‘cause lawyers’ in conflicted and transitional societies. Drawn from an ongoing comparative project which involved fieldwork in Cambodia, Chile, Israel, Palestine, Tunisia and South Africa, the paper looks at opportunities, obstacles and the obduracy required from such lawyers to ‘make a difference’ in these challenging contexts. Drawing upon the theoretical literature on the sociology of the legal profession, cause-lawyers, gender and transitional justice, and the structure/agency nexus, the article considers in turn the conflict\cause-lawyering intersection and the work of cause-lawyers in transitional contexts. It concludes by arguing that the case-study of cause-lawyers offers a rebuttal to the charge that transitional justice is just like ‘ordinary justice’. It also contends that, notwithstanding the durability of patriarchal power in transitional contexts, law remains a site of struggle, not acquiescence, and many of these cause-lawyers have and continue to exercise both agency and responsibility in ‘taking on’ that power.

Lawyers & Truth Recovery Mechanisms: South Africa

Focusing on post-apartheid South Africa, the report explores the role of lawyers in truth recovery mechanisms.

The report was prepared by Dr Rachel Killean and draws on a series of interviews conducted in South Africa (with legal academics, ‘struggle’ lawyers, state lawyers, judges and human rights activists) as part of the wider Lawyers, Conflict and Transition project.

Dr Killean begins with an overview of the various roles the legal profession has played in South Africa, both during the apartheid era and post-transition.

The first half of the report then explores the role of lawyers as professional participants – firstly at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and secondly in the Marikana Commission of Inquiry.

The report then considers the notion of lawyers as subjects of truth recovery, looking in particular at the Special Legal Hearing on the legal profession as part of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In the concluding section Killean reflects on the extent to which lawyers influence the procedures and outcomes of truth recovery mechanisms and offers some concrete suggestions as to how the involvement of lawyers in such processes might be more effectively managed.

With regard to lawyers as subjects of truth recovery, she acknowledges the limitations of the South African model but posits that the endeavour must be applauded, not least because it demonstrated that it is possible to scrutinise the role of the legal profession in past conflict, and that it is worth wrestling with the associated challenges.