Mansion House Speech – 22 October 2024

1. My Lord Mayor, Lord Chancellor, my Ladies, Lords and Gentlemen. Having gone part-heard in July – when a certain political event intervened – it is my pleasure to be here this evening to thank you on behalf of the judiciary of England and Wales and your other guests tonight, for your splendid hospitality.

2. This is my first time here as Lady Chief Justice. And as such this evening has a particular resonance for me. The reason. My great grandfather: Sir Bracewell Smith. From 1948 to 1949 he was himself Lord Mayor. His term of office was most notable for two things: first, the Lord Mayor's promotion of The National Flood Distress Fund following the great floods of 1947; and secondly and more joyously, for reintroducing The Lord Mayor's Show into the drab life of post-war London. As he was also chair of Arsenal and Wembley, you can no doubt guess that naturally his theme was SPORT.

3. My family has treasured video footage of him while he was Lord Mayor standing on the roadside watching as a cyclist accidentally hit a hockey ball directly towards his feet. He passed the ball back into the path of the cyclist with all the skill of a Bukayo Saka – to his great and obvious delight. At that time, my grandmother and her children, including my father, lived here upstairs in the Mansion House for a year. My father was about eight years old, and used to practise his football skills with my uncle for hours on end in this magnificent Hall. The doors provided convenient goals. Occasionally footmen would join in as goalkeepers to make it more exciting. I am sure that some damage must have been done but I have been unable to find the marks this evening. The Hall looks stunning.

4. At this dinner last year, Lord Burnett pondered what an outgoing Lord Chief Justice might say on an occasion such as this. He spoke of the need to invest in justice and steps that have been made in that direction. He spoke of capacity building in the judiciary and modernisation. Not as ends in themselves but as the means to better secure speedy, efficient and proportionate justice in an environment where demands on the justice system continue to rise. He spoke of the Lord Chancellors with whom he had worked – and as he put it, the many whom he had collected – during his time in office, and the close partnership they forged with the judiciary. And he gently raised questions about prisons and whether the Constitutional Reform Act might, perhaps, need to be looked at in that context. Questions as pertinent now as they were last year.

5. During his time as Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett steered the judiciary not only through the impact of Brexit on the courts but also Covid. Separately each would have been an immense task. Taken together, they called for a Herculean effort. We owe him a great debt. It is only right that I also pay tribute to Alex Chalk, Lord Burnett's last Lord Chancellor and my first. Lord Burnett had a good working relationship with him, and I in turn was developing the same productive relationship with him before, as the saying goes, 'Events, dear boy, Events' took their course.

6. It is only a matter of months now since I welcomed the Lord Chancellor to her new office. On that very special and inspiring day, she emphasised both the fundamental importance of the rule of law and the Government's commitment to it. In particular, she highlighted the central importance that an independent judiciary has to play in securing it. As they say in the Court of Appeal: I agree. And I very much look forward to further developing the working relationship – the partnership in the delivery of justice – that the Lord Chancellor and I have already forged since last July.

7. But if an outgoing Lord Chief Justice can reflect on what was, as an incoming Lady Chief Justice perhaps I can reflect on what I hope will be.

8. My starting point is – as you might expect – is that concrete steps are needed to help the courts and judiciary secure the rule of law effectively. And that includes ensuring that sustainable and long-term funding is made available. We have a judicial system that has almost been taken for granted as the envy of the world. We need digitisation, we need to harness the power of AI in appropriate ways, we need modern flexible courtrooms and IT systems, and experienced staff, in order to maintain its standing.

9. Now, if I were being cross-examined, it might be put to me that I was engaging in some special pleading here. But I would have a good riposte: for special pleading is always intended to benefit the pleader. However, like judicial independence, properly funded, modern, courts and tribunals are not something that is merely a benefit to the judiciary. Just like a robust Parliament or an effective Government, they benefit our democracy, its citizens and businesses.

10. But tonight is not the night for making the detailed case for what I would suggest are the obvious benefits. The point is in essence a simple one: the cost of justice is not the same as its value. And its worth to individuals, to the economy, to society as a whole, goes well beyond the numbers. Investment in the courts and tribunals is one that repays very many dividends. There is a price in a future without it.

11. One of those dividends is, of course, the rule of law. One aspect of that is that Parliament, the Government and the Judiciary respect separation of powers; that they do not intrude upon their own particular areas of constitutional responsibility. Historically, we have done so. Recently we have had instances where those constitutional boundaries were at risk of being crossed or blurred, with the Horizon legislation being the clearest recent example.

12. Equally, suggestions that the listing of riot cases speedily in the criminal courts was a consequence of Government action or pressure was a false constitutional narrative. As you would expect, the Lord Chancellor herself made this clear, acknowledging publicly that listing is a judicial function. It cannot be otherwise. One only has to think of King John, a monarch well known in the Mansion House. He granted the Charter in 1215 that provides for the election of the Lord Mayor by the City, rather than the King. He granted another Charter that year, one which came about because he was interfering with the listing of hearings for his own benefit. That was the reason why he was compelled to agree not to 'delay or deny' justice.

13. Working with the Lord Chancellor then, I very much hope that our courts and tribunals will continue to modernise and digitise. I do not say complete those processes. They are and will be ongoing projects. Our justice system must be a justice system supported with the basic necessities for the future. That also calls for the courts and tribunals to be fit places for the judiciary and HMCTS staff to work in. We cannot continue to have judges (as I understand one did) taking it on themselves to climb onto a court roof to clear a gutter that was blocked and causing a leak. It also calls for effective security for judges and HMCTS staff when they are in court.

14. In this context the partnership between HMCTS and the City to develop a flagship court centre may provide a blueprint for the future. The new purpose-built court centre in the heart of the City is now well on its way to completion. It will provide a modern and flexible space for a diverse range of legal work with an emphasis on fraud, cybercrime and business and property work. The collaborative approach taken to developing that court ought to underpin that which we take to all our courts and tribunals. Innovative, incorporating the latest technology, built for the 21^st century, the court can be expected to further enhance London's reputation on the world stage.

15. The construction of the City of London Courts reminds me of one of many firsts this last year: attendance at the bottoming out ceremony in June. For the uninitiated, this involves the laying of a stone at the lowest point of the building – and in this case, also a time capsule full of early 21^stcentury mementos. It meant tottering down 100s of almost vertical gantry steps in high heels. As a Technology and Construction Court judge, I should have known better. It was a tremendous occasion, Lord Mayor, was it not?  And this year we celebrated 75 years of women in silk, with over 400 of us in the Great Hall in the Royal Courts of Justice. Next year we hope to celebrate 60 years of women on the High Court Bench. We have more former solicitors in the senior judiciary than ever before, with more than 20% of the Chancery Division being occupied by solicitors. Two weeks ago one of our newest High Court Judges was sworn in – her professional journey having taken her through a stellar career in academia into the District Bench through to the Circuit Bench, becoming a Senior Circuit Judge and then a High Court Judge. What good news stories!

16. There is therefore still much to celebrate and be grateful for. Not least you, our magnificent judges.

17. I look forward to continuing to work with the Lord Chancellor and the City so that we can all help to secure the benefits of a justice system for all. As for now though, my Lord Mayor, on behalf of His Majesty's judges, may I thank you and this City for the tremendous help and support that you provide to the judiciary in our many joint endeavours and may I especially thank you for this most generous occasion.