Advocate, one of our charities of the year, hosted a lecture by Sir Robin Knowles CBE at The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn on 14 March
The title of Sir Robin’s lecture was “Justice, and access to it”. He highlighted the remarkable contribution barristers, solicitors, paralegals and others in the legal sector make to providing access to justice, saying: “The profession deserves utter respect for the commitment behind this pro bono contribution. It demonstrates a legal profession worthy of the name and one with compassion.”
However, he emphasised that the government, the Bar and other legal professionals can work better together to ensure more people have fair and equal access to the justice system. It will, he said, require a concerted effort by all involved if we are to sustain public trust in our system of justice.
One keynote of his speech was the necessity of integrating other resources, such as litigation funding, in order to provide access to justice. Commercial dispute insurance also falls into this category. He spoke about “integration to the point where access is part of the system of justice. Not, ‘here is the system of justice, what about access to it,’ but ‘here is the system of justice and access to it is part of it’.”
Sir Robin closed his passionate, inspiring and thought-provoking lecture by highlighting the need for leadership: “It is the leadership of many that helped create a world-class system of justice, and it can help ensure access is an integrated part of it,” he said.Rocco is pictured above with Sir Robin (far right), Rebecca Wilkie, Chairman and CEO of Advocate, and Advocate’s Chairman, Sharif A. Shivji KC (far left)
