October 23, 2026
In a special edition of FOCUS, His Honour Geoffrey Rivlin KC delivers a critical analysis of the amended Courts and Tribunals Bill ahead of its Second Reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday 27 October.
Clause 3 would allow judge-alone trials in complex or lengthy dishonesty cases, including fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, bribery and insider dealing.
Rivlin questions the case for singling out serious fraud, the lack of a clear statutory threshold for when judge-alone trials should apply, the absence of a right of appeal, and the wider constitutional implications of the proposals.
His open letter to members of the House of Lords asks whether removing juries is really the answer to complexity, delay and the Crown Court backlog.
Read the Special Edition of FOCUS here