This week’s episode features an interview about A2J issues with Mr. Justice Choudhury of the High Court of England and Wales, also President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Justice Choudhury is also Akhlaq (“Aki”), Julie’s lodger in North London in the late 1980s, when he was a law student at the University of London, and she was starting her career as a professor at another law school; they have remained good friends ever since.
Julie and Aki discuss his journey from law student (and part-time milkman) to his current position – and just how unlikely all this seemed back then. In particular, Aki talks about how it was then impossible to imagine himself, born in Scotland and of Bengali descent, as a judge (and the numbers are not a lot better today, he points out). Aki also describes how, as a judge, he goes about ensuring that self-represented litigants (called pro selitigants in England) can be heard and treated fairly.
In a COVID-aware postscript, Aki describes what it’s like to now hear cases by videoconference, and raises some concerns about some potential, and not yet fully understood, disadvantages for SRLs and others in that setting.
Aki in 1988, undergrad graduation
Julie and her daughter, in a photo taken by Aki in the late 80s
Mr. Justice Choudhury
Related links
“Recruitment of black and Asian judges too slow – lord Chief Justice” (The Guardian)
“Court hearings via video ‘risk unfairness for disabled people'” (The Guardian)
In Other News
In other news: NSRLP has added to our list of COVID-19 resources since our last podcast, including a list of free online legal educational content and a resource around what “urgent” means for cases currently being heard; we’re also proud to announce that Julie will be a member of British Columbia’s new Cross Jurisdictional Technical Advisory Group, helping the Ministry of the Attorney General respond to the impact of COVID-19 on the justice system; and finally, Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella recently spoke about designing a whole new way to deliver justice to ordinary people, BC Attorney General David Eby has pondered how this crisis has been eye-opening for those who previously have had access to the justice system, and a major decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal recently reflected on the “role of the trial judge & counsel where one party is self-represented” – the case discusses the appalling treatment of an SRL during a “mocking & belittling cross-examination” while “the trial judge did nothing.”
Mediation in Uncertain Times: Taking Control of the Outcome (NSRLP blog)
Julie joins BC justice system advisory group (BC government)
Justice Abella on civil justice for the 21st century (Globe and Mail)
BC Attorney General Ian Mulgrew on zooming into the 21st century (The Province)
New Decision from ONCA on treatment of SRLs (CanLII)
Jumping Off the Ivory Tower is produced and hosted by Julie Macfarlane and Dayna Cornwall; production and editing by Sikandar Saleem; Other News produced and hosted by Ali Tejani; promotion by Moya McAlister and Ali Tejani.
