Lawyers and the Public Good
Democracy in Action?

Alan Paterson argues that, in a democracy, legal institutions are too important to be defined and controlled by lawyers alone.

Alan Paterson (Author)

9781107626287, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 September 2011

240 pages, 21 b/w illus. 3 tables
21.6 x 13.8 x 1.2 cm, 0.33 kg

'This is a timely, affordable and comprehensive text. … Lawyers of all creeds, students and interested observers (including politicians and judges) will all find something of interest in it.' The Edinburgh Law Review

For the 2010 Hamlyn Lectures, Alan Paterson explores different facets of three key institutions in a democracy: lawyers, access to justice and the judiciary. In the case of lawyers he asks whether professionalism is now in terminal decline. To examine access to justice, he discusses past and present crises in legal aid and potential endgames and in relation to judges he examines possible mechanisms for enhancing judicial accountability. In demonstrating that the benign paternalism of lawyers in determining the public good with respect to such issues is no longer unchallenged, he argues that the future roles of lawyers, access to justice and the judiciary will only emerge from dialogues with other stakeholders claiming to speak for the public interest.

1. Introduction: determining the public good
2. Professionalism reassessed: what now for lawyers?
3. Access to justice: whither legal aid?
4. Judges and the public good: reflections on the last Law Lords
5. Conclusion: where next?

Subject Areas: Legal system: general [LNA], Comparative law [LAM]