One effect of what has been described as the greatest blow ever to our judicial system is that the already laborious legal process is likely to slow down. It is anticipated that every procedure will now be followed to the point of absurdity and that any flexibility which assisted the system to operate a little less slowly will be a thing of the past. The advent of complete rigidity, said one senior source, will mean that if an "i" is missing a dot, the 100-page document it appears in will not be accepted. Two immediate unofficial effects are expected, as opposed to the new official reforms of the court service. Firstly a "cover-your-ass attitude" will be the order of the day, in that circuit court officials who have imagined their heads on the guillotine are unlikely to facilitate even the slightest change in procedure. Secondly, the "walk in" practice whereby barristers could walk into certain judges' chambers and plea-bargain behind closed doors, is likely to end. It would be hard to square this latter practice anyway, the source said, with the constitutional requirement that justice be administered in public. In the longer term, amid the current gloom and tendency to blame the media for prying and then hyping, a reluctance among lawyers to seek the bench is anticipated.
One legal eagle spoke about what he perceived as the unfair and anti-competitive Bar Council rule preventing a barrister practising in a court in which he had previously served on the bench. It was a particular injustice for Cyril Kelly, who would be unable to earn his living in his qualified profession. The source wondered if the rule, which has no standing in law and is maintained by the bar presumably to avoid embarrassment, might be challenged. But then who would judge the case but the judges themselves? Two new judges will now be appointed to replace Hugh O'Flaherty and Cyril Kelly in addition to the four Supreme Court vacancies due next year. Consequently, there will be movement lower down the hierarchy. But so traumatised is the Law Library that speculation has ceased . . . for the moment.