A report on the Crown Court has accused lawyers of making trials "too other-worldly" and "almost incomprehensible" with their language, wigs and gowns.

Researchers for the Criminal Justice Alliance, a coalition of justice campaign groups, found that lawyers alienated civilians by seeking "to outdo each other with displays of eloquence, quick-wittedness and legal knowledge", and baffled them with elaborate, ritualised and archaic language.

90 lay Crown Court users were interviewed for the report, which quotes the most revealing contributions. 'Ali', a defendant, told the authors, ‘Well, it’s posh innit? The courts are posh. It’s all posh to me, everyone in wigs. Everyone talks in this funky language." Another defendant, 'Jerome', complained that lawyers ‘used very long, powerful words" and that "if you are a bit common you are going to find it very hard to understand what they’re saying".

    "Ergo you standeth before us, mutatis mutandis, ergo atrium, GUILTY"

The fact that lawyers and lay users are often socially and educationally "poles apart", does not make things easy, says the report. According to Jerome, judges are "very old-fashioned and it comes from years and years ago from where people used to be beheaded". The study found that the sense of alienation felt by lay users is exacerbated by the "theatre-like" atmosphere of the court, with wigs and gowns creating a "sense of other-worldliness".

Its recommendations include scrapping wigs, gowns and other formalities if a review finds that they do no more than uphold tradition. Lawyers should be encouraged to explain technical terms to lay users, and judges and counsel should be trained in the use of plain English.

The Bar Standards Board told RollOnFriday that it agreed that there is "a need for barristers to be able to explain court proceedings and legal terms in plain English”. It also referred to its guide on the desired characteristics of a barrister, in which there is virtually no mention at all of being posh and snoozing at the Garrick.
 
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Comments

Anonymous 06 November 15 09:52

Withnail and I:
Danny: I happened to be looking for a suit for the coal man two weeks ago. For reasons I can't really discuss with you, the coal man had to go to Jamaica. Got busted coming back through Heathrow, had the weight under his fez. We worked out that it would be handy karma for him to get hold of a suit but he's a very low temperature spade, the coal man. Went into court wearing a kaftan and a bell. This doesn't go down at all well. They can handle the kaftan but they can't handle the bell. So there's this judge sitting there sitting in a cape like f*cking Batman with this really rather far out looking hat..
Withnail: A wig.
Danny: No man, this was more like a long white hat. So he looks at the coal man and says "What's all this? This is a court, man. This ain't fancy dress" and the coal man looks at him and says "You think you look normal, your honour?". C*nt give him two years.

Roll On Friday 06 November 15 10:53

I thought Latin was effectively banned nowadays? Or are they objecting to the use of English words of more than one syllable? Perhaps we should go the whole hog and require officers of the court to speak in a simplified patois.

Anonymous 12 November 15 13:17

Further to the article of even date, I must aver my own view runs counter to the contents of the text.