With the news that Michael Gove has been appointed in charge of the Ministry of Justice I can already see on social media and in some sections of the press that the personal attacks are starting. He was unpopular with swathes of the teaching profession, but the profession made some big mistakes in handling him as a Secretary of State. The legal profession can avoid making the same mistakes again. Here are my seven top tips for the legal profession on working with Michael Gove:
- Engage and influence, don’t attack. He will definitely listen to the Law Society if it’s constructive
- Criticise the policy, not the person, or the stubbornness will come out and you will lose the support of other key influencers
- Be consistent and stick to your values, he’s far far cleverer than most people give him credit for and will spot the cracks
- He likes to be challenged and values strong debate, use that to influence the execution of policies
- Look out for smoke screen policies, which the media grab hold of, allowing other things to happen in the background
- Get ready for a lot of reforms and a very fast pace of change
- If you have any issues with FOIs speak to @miss_mcinerney