Don’t race to criticise me just because I’m doing my job well

Dec 11 2008 by Margaret Shaw, Hamilton Advertiser

MAY I thank Mr McNab for taking the time to write to the Advertiser. It is always reassuring to see that people feel strongly enough about matters to raise them in the public domain.

However, let me assure Mr McNab that I do not for a minute think that I am a better driver than anyone else. I do think I am a better lawyer. In fact, I am a brilliant lawyer. But unlike many brilliant lawyers who work for the public services or large corporations I have decided to represent ordinary, working people.

Let me assure Mr McNab that I represent them to the best of my ability without judging them and that in relation to the case which was reported in the Hamilton Advertiser, the chap involved was adamant that he wasn't speeding. He wasn't even given an opportunity to see that reading by the police.

Now, it is not my place to tell him that he should be pleading guilty because Mr McNab thinks that people who don't plead guilty are Smart Alecks. I represent people to the best of my abilities all the time, regardless of what they have been charged with (and let me assure Mr McNab that many of them have been charged with a lot more serious matters than speeding).

But I believe in justice and our justice system demands that I do my best – and I always do my best. If that means people get off, then so be it. It is called justice.

Could I suggest that Mr McNab address his criticism to people who aren't doing their jobs right, like the politicians and corporate bankers who are bankrupting this country.

In addition to the case reported I have defended a number of people, including people who were rushing to hospital with sick children in their cars and a young girl who claimed that she had been stopped by the police because they thought she was a boy racer. She claimed that she was badly treated and that there was a sexual innuendo in how she was interviewed by the police and that the police had completely misrepresented the speed limit of the road in question.

Fortunately, I managed to persuade the procurator fiscal to take no proceedings against these people and I am sure that their lives have been greatly enhanced by the efforts that I have made on their behalf.

In addition, I have represented a number of people who have accepted their penalty points. However, had they been disqualified under the totting-up procedure, then they would have lost their homes, their businesses and a number of people in contact with their families.

It is vital to our justice system that these people are properly represented, and I am delighted to do so.

Charles Ferguson, Solicitor Advocate, Hamilton.