The surprising Conservative majority revealed on the morning of 8 May was generally seen as a favourable outcome for City lawyers. However, David Cameron’s appointment of controversial political heavyweight Michael Gove as the new Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice a few days later has ruffled some feathers in the legal profession.
Gove, who is the second non-lawyer to hold the post after his predecessor Chris Grayling, will be supported by ex-Linklaters corporate lawyer Dominic Raab as new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice, while both the Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC and Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC were reappointed.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)’s most high-profile task will be the planned abolition of the Human Rights Act and introduction of a British Bill of Rights, but other commitments outlined in the Conservative manifesto include a reform of the prison system, a tougher stance on sentencing, the creation of a victims’ law, and stronger counter-terrorism powers.
The MoJ will also need to find further savings in its budget, which the Institute for Fiscal Studies projected at 17.9% between 2014/15 and 2018/19 based on Conservative commitments, and Gove is likely to continue the £600m in legal aid cuts commenced by Grayling.
Other manifesto pledges impacting the legal profession include an in-out EU referendum by 2017 and a cap on skilled migration from outside the EU at 20,700. On tax, the Conservatives have pledged no rise in VAT, national insurance contributions or income tax and have proposals that will see the amount of tax paid by partners and associates fall.
According to Hogan Lovells’ chair Nicholas Cheffings, such pledges create constitutional instability: ‘What we are already seeing from the level of client interest in our work on UK constitutional change suggests that Brexit may be part of a bigger picture: further devolution in Scotland; devolution across the UK; withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights in favour of a British Bill of Rights – all of these things combine to create a level of constitutional instability that is unusual in the UK.’
He added: ‘It is clear that many of our clients recognise the importance of the voice of business being heard on these constitutional issues, and on holding government to account for the robust decision-making and legal predictability that has long made the rule of law, and our legal system, a major export for, and attraction of, UK plc. Maintaining and enhancing that reputation should be a key objective for government, for business and for lawyers.’
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk