The Thirteenth Gabriele Ganz Public Law Lecture

The 13th Gabriele Ganz lecture was delivered on the 23rd October 2008 by David Howarth MP (Cambridge). In a very cleverly crafted oration, David sought to liken the work of lawyers with that of engineers, and called for academic lawyers to devote more of their research time to the issue of statutory drafting. In his view, much research was directed at analysing and criticising cases, which was of interest to only a relatively few practising lawyers, such as judges and barristers. The largest group of lawyers, namely solicitors, were concerned with routine legal matters, which are frequently governed by statutes, a number of which are almost incomprehensible. His view was that, with a distinct lack of legal expertise in Parliament, academic lawyers could be of great assistance in this area.