A hanging matter
Image via @milnerjonas
It is beyond doubt that Chris Grayling — Britain’s first non-lawyer Lord Chancellor, who also travels under the title of Secretary of State for Justice — invokes strong emotions from the legal profession.
Apparently, all one need do for evidence is pop into the gentlemen’s lavatories at Croydon Crown Court for a quick Jimmy Riddle. This image — tweeted recently from the south London court — leaves little to the imagination.
Legal Cheek wishes to make it absolutely clear that we do not condone vigilantism — and that no matter how convinced many lawyers are that Grayling has catastrophically scythed through the legal aid budget, and that he exhibits little else but naked contempt for much of the legal profession, lynching is well and truly a step too far.
There is also no suggestion that the tweeter — crime specialist barrister Jonas Milner of London’s 2 Bedford Row Chambers — is in anyway attempting to incite violence against a government cabinet minister.
But someone out there certainly doesn’t like him. Nonetheless, far better to attack Grayling through the courts — the Law Society announced earlier this week that it would seek leave to judicially review the Ministry of Justice’s legal aid crime duty solicitor tender process — than reaching for the rope.
The full ‘Legal pic of the day’ collection is here.