England: Lord Chief Justice concerned with poor conditions of court buildings

Lord Burnett of Maldon said the poor condition of courts had contributed to “low levels of morale”, The Times reports.

He warned that more funds were needed in addition to the additional £7 million that had been made available by the Ministry of Justice for maintenance.

“The reality is that the backlog of urgent maintenance needed to ensure that all our buildings are in a decent condition will only be reduced by the injection of substantial funds.”

He also pointed to a burdensome workload as a contributing factor to poor morale and high staff turnover.

“I have been working to engage with judges at all levels and have put in place changes designed to improve morale,” he said.

Lord Burnett noted that the refusal of senior lawyers to join the bench was the “tip of the iceberg” as far as problems in the judiciary go.

“Solving this problem quickly is vital to maintaining a respected and effective judiciary so fundamental to the rule of law and to the vitality of the legal services sector,” he said.

He added he was concerned that the impression the public had of the judiciary was “informed by outdated media stereotypes which ignore the work done by thousands of salaried and fee-paid-judges”.