Stop denigrating the profession, Dean tells PM and Patel

Stop denigrating the legal profession, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates has demanded in an open letter to the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary.

Roddy Dunlop QC has written to Boris Johnson and Priti Patel, with the support of the other Faculty office bearers, following speeches at the Conservative conference in which both referred to “lefty human rights lawyers and other do-gooders”.

His letter sets out the professional duty of advocates to take on cases in which they are instructed, and to act entirely independently in the performance of their duty. Lawyers who act against the state, he points out, are simply doing their professional duty.

The Dean goes on to note that fortunately, instances of violence against lawyers are rare in the UK, unlike in some other countries.

“However," he continues, "in a climate of increasing populism, this sort of rhetoric is not only facile and offensive, it is potentially harmful. With great power comes great responsibility, and I have to say – with great respect – that I simply cannot fathom why it is thought in any way appropriate to attempt to vilify, in public, those that are simply doing their job, in accordance with the rule of law.”

He concludes: "I would accordingly, and again with great respect, ask each of you to eschew such unhelpful language, and to recognise that challenges to the executive are a necessary part of our democracy. Anything less would be a confession that we no longer live in a democracy."

Click here to view the full letter.

The President of the Law Society of Scotland has already made her own protest at the remarks.