PETITION FROM SCOTLAND AGAINST CROOKED LAWYERS TO THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT FOR THE DISBANDMENT OF THE JUSTICE ONE COMMITTEE AND THE INSTITUTION OF A PUBLIC COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE CONDUCT OF THIS COMMITTEE AND ITS PREDECESSOR, THE JUSTICE COMMITTEE, AND FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF A NEW COMMITTEE TO TAKE THE PLACE OF THE JUSTICE ONE COMMITTEE AS PRESENTLY CONSTITUTED. LINK

SCOTLAND AGAINST CROOKED LAWYERS, hereby petitions the Scottish Parliament to execute the following:

PUBLIC COMMISSION OF INQUIRY:

That the Scottish Parliament disbands, with immediate effect, the Justice One Committee and discards all its recommendations arising from its so-called investigation into the Regulation of the Scottish Legal Profession. LINK
That the Scottish Parliament then constitutes a Public Commission of Inquiry with a remit to investigate and report on the conduct of all the members of the Justice One Committee and its predecessor, the Justice Committee, since the inception of the Scottish Parliament. Further that the remit of this Public Commission includes an investigation and report into the conduct of the previous Minister of Justice, the Rt. Hon J Wallace QC, MSP, in connection with his dealings with the Justice One Committee.
That the Scottish Parliament ensures that no member of the Law Society, the Faculty of Advocates, the Judiciary, the Sheriff’s Association or any other body connected with the practice and administration of the Law in Scotland is appointed to this Commission. LINK
That the Scottish Parliament ensures that only persons of the highest verifiable proven repute and probity are appointed to this Commission.
That the Scottish Parliament ensures that members of active campaigning bodies, like SACL, which have a track record of promoting the reform of the Scottish Legal system, are appointed to this Commission. Such persons to be of the same verifiable and proven repute and probity as in (4) above.

NEW COMMITTEE TO TAKE THE PLACE OF THE EXISTING JUSTICE ONE COMMITTEE.

That the Scottish Parliament then constitute a NEW COMMITTEE to take the place of the existing Justice One Committee to make new recommendations for the Reform of the Scottish Legal Justice system based on the work and records done and acquired by the Justice One Committee to date. And further, that this NEW COMMITTEE executes all the new research necessary to carry out the original remit handed down by the Scottish Parliament to the present Justice One Committee in 2002.
That the Scottish Parliament ensures that no member of the Law Society of Scotland, Faculty of Advocates or any lawyer, sheriff or judge or anyone who has connections with the legal profession and/or the Scottish Legal Justice system in general is appointed a member of this NEW COMMITTEE.
That this NEW COMMITTEE consists of people of the highest proven repute and probity, including members of Campaigning Groups with a verifiable track record, such as SACL.

THE REASONS FOR PROFERRING THIS PETITION TO THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT:

From its inception the Justice One Committee and its predecessor, the Justice Committee, has had a majority of Law Society, Faculty of Advocate and other members with close connections to these Bodies sitting as members of the Justice One Committee. This made it manifestly impossible for these Law Society members, et al, to conduct an objective and impartial investigation into Self Regulation by virtue of the fact that they were members of the various bodies in whom the powers of self-regulation were (and still are) vested. In essence, these Committee members knowingly acquiesced in a pretence of an Inquiry - in the full knowledge that they themselves were in an extreme flagrant “Conflict of Interest” situation.
In the event, and now three years later, it is perfectly apparent that these Committee members perverted the course of the Inquiry by the following means, inter-alia:

2.1 That this Law Society/Faculty of Advocates dominated Committee did not accord the opponents of Self Regulation the same rights of audience as it accorded the Law Society/Faculty of Advocates, et al, and other law firms and lawyers. We have incontrovertible evidence of this.
2.2 That this Law Society/Faculty of Advocates dominated Committee tampered with the Submissions of opponents of Self-Regulation rendering them unintelligible. But it did not tamper with the submissions of the Law Society/ Faculty of Advocates, et al, and Law firms and lawyers. We have incontrovertible evidence of this.
2.3 That this Law Society/Faculty of Advocates dominated Committee knowingly disregarded the evidence of criminal activity by Law Society and Faculty of Advocate members as well as the Law Society and the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates themselves. We have incontrovertible evidence of this.
2.4 That this Law Society/Faculty of Advocates dominated Committee dropped (in 2002) 90% of the remit that the Scottish Parliament had given it, without reference to the Scottish Parliament. We have incontrovertible evidence of this.
2.5 That this Law Society/Faculty of Advocates dominated Committee has, from its inception, knowingly conducted itself in a manner that would defeat the ends and purposes of the Inquiry, against the instructions and intentions of the Scottish Parliament, not to mention the hopes of the Scottish Public.

CONCLUSION:

Over the last three years SACL has done its best to motivate the various succeeding members of this Committee to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the Committee achieving the ends and purposes of the Inquiry, as instructed by the Scottish Parliament. We have extensive records of our efforts in this regard. It is that singular failure of these successive members of the Justice One Committee and its predecessor, the Justice Committee, and the former Justice Minister (Jim Wallace QC, MSP LINK) that has caused us to submit this Petition to your Committee.

For the record you accepted our first (and, so far, only) Petition in April 2001. This 2001 Petition caused the Scottish Parliament to constitute the Inquiry in the first place. But, with all these lawyers “running” and “managing” the Justice One Committee, the whole of the so-called Inquiry, was, predictably, sabotaged. Please do not include Mr Gallie to be investigated as we were (and still are) quite happy with his contributions when he was a member of that disgraceful Committee.

On behalf of SCOTLAND AGAINST CROOKED LAWYERS
Stuart Usher (SACL Co-ordinator), Under Langlee, Jedburgh, TD8 6PB.