Embracing the Overriding Objective: Difficulties and Dilemmas in the New Criminal Climate

Abstract

There has been little discussion to date of the impact of the new criminal case management system enshrined in the Criminal Procedure Rules for England and Wales upon the judges and practising lawyers who are expected to operate it. Detailed interviews were conducted with a number of these criminal law professionals in order to explore what, if any, problems they were experiencing in this context. It transpires that a number of practical problems confront them, and that defence lawyers may have difficulty reconciling their ethical obligations to the client with their considerably enhanced duties to the court. The issues that emerge from this small sample of interviews provide useful material to be taken into account in the design of any larger project to investigate the efficacy of case management or to compare local variations in practice. They also offer guidance to those developing the new criminal procedures in what obstacles to the desired cooperative culture need to be addressed.

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