The Law Soc Gazette
David Lammy will today announce a new body to promote English law internationally to reinforce the country’s global lead in legal services in his first speech as justice secretary at the Labour party conference.
As well as an ‘English Law Panel’, the deputy prime minister will also announce plans to expand problem-solving courts in the criminal justice system as part of efforts to reduce reoffending, starting with a new women’s intensive supervision court in Liverpool, which is hosting this year’s conference.
According to the Law Society, the UK is the world’s second largest legal services provider, with legal services contributing £57.8bn annually to the economy and employing around 526,000 people – 1.6% of the UK workforce.
Lammy is also expected to highlight in today’s speech the state of the justice system inherited from the Conservative administration 14 months ago, such as the prison population crisis and Crown court backlog.
Figures published by the Ministry of Justice last week showed that the number of outstanding cases climbed to a record 78,329 between April and June this year. The Criminal Bar Association revealed that a London Crown court had offered a robbery case a trial date of October 2029.
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