Charon QC has reported on the proposed merger of Inner and Middle Temple libraries – a depressing proposal, in my view.
It cost me a lot of money to join my Inn – Gray’s – at least, it seemed a lot of money back in 1992. And I’m not aware of Gray’s ever having done anything for me. It certainly gave me no financial support when I desperately needed it as a bar student – preferring to help others who already had support from other sources. Nor did it recognise my utterly unspeakable brilliance at mooting, preferring plummier students, I noticed. All I ever got was a load of dinners I didn’t want, and had to pay for anyway.
Except for the library. As a student, Gray’s Inn library was indispensable, and saved my course and career a number of times. It became a refuge and retreat, and is filled with memories – of reading my first human rights case, in the North Room, for example, of sniggering upstairs over essays and of carrying books for the young barrister I was after in those days.
I still spend a lot of time at the library now: it’s where I often work, researching either for my teaching or consultancy work, or for this blog. A lot of posts are written there, thanks to the wi-fi which is quite wonderful. The librarians are helpful and friendly, as are other users on the whole, and all law is there. For me, Gray’s Inn is the library. Perhaps the Inn does something useful with the money I once gave it, apart from provide further CV kudos for its benchers, but I’ve no idea what that might be. It’s the library alone that makes it worth my having joined all those years ago. If it went, there’d be no point in my being a member, except to satisfy some rule.
So you can guess I think this proposed merger is a thoroughly bad proposal. The Inns libraries are one of the legal profession’s most valuable resources. I know they’re in London and only help those who live or work there. I wish they were all over the country. But without them, there’d be nowhere barristers, including non-practising ones like me and struggling pupils in search of tenancies, doing voluntary work perhaps, could work with all the essential legal tools available to them. Without the Inn libraries, only those already successful, on the inside of chambers or big firms and organisations, would have access to the best books and online servcies without having to pay privately. It’d be a bad day for students, pupils, struggling barristers and pro bono legal work, as well as for the blawgosphere, and the public in general, because of the work and writing that’s done there, and I don’t mean by me. It’d be a bad day for the bar. Which is why, even if Gray’s library remains, I don’t want to see any other Inns close theirs.
Charon has set up a poll – please go and vote if you have a view on this. Which way do you think I voted?
Thanks for this Carl. I agree… it is a rather depressing prospect.
I think an education centre is a brilliant idea – but surely accommodation for such a centre is available in London nearby? Does the centre have to be right in the heart of the Temple?
If advocacy is planned – why not use the RCJ at night? If lectures are planned… why not use the Inns of Court Law School, College of Law, BPP or a host of other conference facilities within a mile or so… or other rooms in the Inn?
We shall see what transpires.
The Inns do already provide education and, for Inner, the array of lectures, training and other events etc made available at nominal cost to the lowly students is superb. I am told that the equivalent for pupils and new tenants is held in even higher regard and I have yet to hear of any Inner Templar who is not very positive over the Inn’s efforts towards those of us at the bottom of the heap. As such, I find it difficult to envisage how, or even why, anyone would seek to improve upon this current aspect of the Inns’ functions. There is plenty that people do complain about, but there is little, if any, indication that people are complaining over the education provision.
Being a suspicious type, my guess is that desire to create an educational centre under the Inns’ control is so that it can also be rented out to third parties and create a new source of income for the Inns. Either that or (and hope springs eternal) it would set up the bar for kicking the BVC providers into touch and taking back control of the vocational education stage.
This is meant as a completely open question, because I don’t know enough about it. But is this such a terrible thing?
As far as I can see, no one is suggesting getting rid of the libraries altogether. The proposal is just that two libraries, fairly close to each other, might be merged. So Bar students will still have somewhere to do their reading and flirting.
Or is the concern that this might be the first sign of something bigger?
Each library has it’s own attractions.
GI is home – it’s busy enough as it is without you letting all the numpties know how wonderful it is.
IT is an oasis.
LI is a bit funereal.
MT has a wonderful collection.
Why don’t these people leave the Inns alone? It’s not a money issue as the Inns are fine. It’s all about the creeping incrementalism of the Bar Council. And why does the Bar Council exist – for the Bar Council: the serve themselves, not me.
Some people just have to try to dumb everything down. For God’s sake leave these marvellous places alone. I would never pretend that everything about the English Bar is wonderful but these libraries certainly are. They are individual and priceless collections covering practically almost our entire legal history.
Totally agree with previous comments. Does anyone know how much money the consultancy firm (Chems – never heard of them before) is making from this utterly unnecessary survey? Why didn't the administrations of the Inns simply email all barristers in the Inn to get their views? – I guess, because they did not want a clear and almost certainly negative response.
MTL