30 June 2021
Retirement of Sir Declan Morgan as Lord Chief Justice
President’s valedictory remarks upon the retirement of Sir Declan Morgan as Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
Nisi Prius Court - 30 June 2021
It is a privilege to be able to join in this tribute to Sir Declan, on
behalf of the Law Society of Northern Ireland and its members, to mark his retirement
as Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
One of Sir Declan’s most noteworthy initiatives has been his willingness
to engage with Northern Ireland’s elected representatives in order to help
demystify the work of the Courts and the Judiciary. This willingness to embrace
greater openness and transparency in his role as Head of the Judiciary has been
both timely and effective. The Chief Justice’s appearance before the Justice
Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly only last week is a striking example
of this, and engagements such as this have helped promote much greater
understanding of the administration of justice in Northern Ireland.
The old aloofness that once characterised these relationships has, under
Sir Declan’s leadership, been consigned to history. Indeed, his decision, in
one of the first media interviews he gave following his appointment, to
describe himself as a “civil servant” captured perfectly this new vision of the
Judge as servant of the wider community in Northern Ireland.
A particular aspect of Sir Declan’s leadership, which has been
ground-breaking, has been his determination to bring a measure of closure to
victims of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, through the work of the Coroners’
Courts in their conduct of Legacy Inquests. While finding a satisfactory way to
address the legacy of our troubled past has proved almost impossible for our
elected politicians, Sir Declan’s commitment to provide effective and
independent judicial investigations of legacy cases has demonstrated the value
of an impartial and independent judicial process as a means of accounting for
the tragedies of the past.
As well as giving his attention to the challenges of our past, Sir
Declan has also been a consistent and persuasive advocate of the advantages of
introducing a new model of court administration. As recently as at last week’s
appearance before the Justice Committee of the Assembly, Sir Declan once again
set out the case for repositioning the Court Service under a Judicial
Leadership Board, as has already happened in Ireland and in Scotland. I am
reminded that it took the Scottish Government almost 10 years to recognise the
need for introducing greater independence into the oversight of the Courts in
Scotland and, as we arrive at a similar milestone in Northern Ireland, it is
earnestly to be hoped that the Lord Chief Justice’s advocacy of the
introduction of similar arrangements here will finally secure this most
desirable outcome.
The role of the
Lord Chief Justice today is by no means confined to the courts of law. One of
the Chief Justice’s most important extracurricular roles is leadership of the Northern
Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission. The statutory duty fulfilled by the
Commission is to secure a Judiciary reflective of the community in Northern
Ireland. No-one could reasonably dispute that under Sir Declan’s leadership the
Judiciary is today more fully reflective of the legal community than at any
time in the past. The appointment of the first female High Court Judges and
Chief Justice, along with the increasing recognition of the suitability of
solicitor candidates for judicial office, are developments greatly to be
welcomed and which were achieved under Sir Declan’s leadership.
If I may conclude on a more personal note, I am embarrassed to admit that
it is almost exactly 50 years since I first encountered Sir Declan, when we
were both undergraduates at the second-oldest university in the
English-speaking world. He certainly – and possibly I too – was rather more
floppy-haired then than now. Much water
has passed under the bridges on the River Cam since those distant days but I
know that Sir Declan has maintained close links with the University over the
years. Indeed, he was elected an Honorary
Fellow of his College, Peterhouse, in 2010 - an entirely fitting recognition of
the distinction which he has brought both to that College and to the University
itself. I was intrigued to find that the College’s website contains a list of
“Eminent Petreans,” as alumni of Peterhouse are apparently known. The list includes no less than five Nobel
prize-winners, plus Lord Kelvin, the eminent scientist, and Lord Ellenborough,
who was Lord Chief Justice of England in the early 19th century. Perhaps
more controversially, the list also contains Michael Portillo, the politician
and broadcaster, Colin Greenwood, the bass player with Radiohead, and David
Mitchell, the comedian – but not Sir Declan. This is surely a shocking omission
from such an eclectic mix. Although it
is very presumptuous to offer gratuitous legal advice, it does seem to me that
he has been grievously wronged and should consider an immediate appeal!
Chief Justice, on behalf of the solicitors’ profession in Northern
Ireland, I thank you for your immense contribution to the legal system in
Northern Ireland and for all that you have done to uphold and promote the rule
of law in this jurisdiction. I wish you a long, happy and very fulfilling
retirement.
Rowan White
President
Law Society of Northern Ireland