Clanger J may need a new icon!

[major_clanger]

Bloody Hell! Major Clanger finds possibly the only prospective new career where he gets a wig to cover his thinning thatch, and the Lord Chief Justice decides to abolish them. At least, abolish them in non-criminal cases, and as an IP/Tech barrister that's pretty much all I'd be doing. Goodbye to wing collars and preaching bands, too - but the batcape is staying. The normally staid Bar Council site has a news update saying, in effect, "Oh God, here we go again."

And no more full-bottomed wigs for senior judges (as modelled in the userpic)! No mind that they've only been worn on ceremonial occasions for the last century and a half, it's still what everyone seems to think all judges wear. What will cartoonists do now?

Comments

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

A consultation?

Past experience suggests that the politicians will already have made their minds up.

Personally, I think there is still a virtue in being able to distinguish barristers from those well-dressed people without whom they would have no gainful employment. One might well with to avoid being mistaken from a plaintiff.

Seeing some of the US coverage of court cases, I find I need subtitles and captioning just to distinguish Scooter Libby from his lawyers. This is an error which should not be encouraged.

[pwilkinson.livejournal.com]

What will cartoonists do now?

Continue with the full-bottomed wigs, of course. After all, when did you last see a teacher wearing a mortar board - even on ceremonial occasions - except in a cartoon?

[watervole.livejournal.com]

They may regret that. Wasn't it tried in Australia for family courts and then abandoned? I seem to recall that they found people gave the judge more respect and were more likely to abide by judgements when wigs were worn

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

The main argument for retaining them in criminal cases seems either to be (a) Reinforcing the Majesty and Authority of the Law, or (b) making it harder for disgruntled clients (or their mates) to recognise M'Learned Friend outside court lest they want to give some immediate feedback on his or her performance.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

What seems to have happened is that the LCJ has declared that judges will no longer wear wigs in civil cases, with the implicit assumption that barristers will follow suit, on the basis that it would be a gross breach of etiquette for counsel to be more formally attired than the judge. I suspect that the Bar Council now feels obliged to have a consultation with its members along the lines of 'do we just fall into line or should we ask to be told to change our attire?'.

I have an awful suspicion that trainee barristers will still have to buy the full get-up even if they never plan to take a criminal brief in their lives. Given that wigs are about £500, that's not trivial.