Chief Minister’s Address at the Inaugural Dinner of the Gibraltar Law Council - 213/2026

Mdm. Chair, Ministers, my Honourable and learned friends, and fellow 'conspirators' in the pursuit of justice.

Looking around this room tonight, I am struck by two things.

First, the staggering amount of collective intellect gathered under one roof.

And second, the terrifying thought of what the cumulative hourly rate for this dinner must be. If the waiters are smart, they'll bill us for 'attendance and travel' before the coffee is even served.

We are here to celebrate the birth of the annual dinner of the Gibraltar Law Council.

The cynics say Gibraltar has too many lawyers and they often say 'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.'

That line of Henry the VI is too often misunderstood.

I had to explain to one Member of Parliament that the line is not about hating lawyers.

It is about loving them.

Because we have to be clear about the context:

'Kill all the lawyers", was the cry of Jack Cade's rebels, who knew that to install a dictatorship, you must first dismantle the men and women who hold the measuring tape of the Law.

The men and women who stand up for the rule of law.

In this room, all of us do.

From the Executive, to the legislature and to the legal profession.

So when critics look at our Cabinet and our Parliament and whisper of a 'Barristocracy.'

I think we should wear that as a badge of honor.

In an age of 'alternative facts' and populist slogans, there is no greater service to a nation than a government and a Parliament anchored in legal rigor, forensic analysis and the cold, hard logic of a well argued brief.

That is a strength.

It is NOT a weakness.

Especially where, in a place like Gibraltar, the legal profession is no longer dominated by a monied few.

There was always an element of meritocracy in the legal profession.

It has been particuarly so since 1988, when the GSLP introduced universal scholarships.

From then the Bar and all the professions have been transformed from an inherited privilege into a restless meritocracy.

The doors of the Inns of Court are as open to the children of the silver spoon as they are to the children of every working family in Gibraltar.

And the the fruit of that labor has led to unparalelled economic growth.

But we didn't just grow the economy;

As a society we have grown the conscience of our nation.

By treating the law as a living instrument of Human Rights, we brought about a revolution in equality.

We didn't just 'talk' about fairness; we codified it-

Delivering equality, equalisation of the age of consent, same-sex marriage, same-sex adoption and same-sex IVF.

Ensuring that in Gibraltar, the Law does not look at who you love, but only at the rights you deserve.

This brings me to our latest 'brief.'

Late yesterday, we published the Treaty on Gibraltar and the European Union Bill 2026.

The draft law that implements the treaty we - and no one else - have negotiated for Gibraltar.

A treaty BY Gibraltar, for Gibraltar.

And the Bill is the roadmap to the implementation of a British future with but European access.

To add interest, it will come with a few Henry VIII powers thrown in to add a further Shakesperean tinge to the trage-comedy that is BREXIT.

These are more common in our laws than we tend to learn in law school.

The old European Communities Act had similar powers as does the UK Act which implements the EU / UK Trade & Cooperation Agreement.

And our Bill is a genuinely seminal piece of legislation.

We have targeted the 10th of April for provisional application of the Treaty.

16 days from now

As any junior associate on a Friday night knows: lawyers are at their best when the deadline is 'yesterday.'

That is an ambitious timeline that may have to slip.

In fact, it very likely will.

But not because we will not be ready on the Gibraltar side.

This Bill will become the law that will tear down the frontier.

It will be the law that will kick open thousands of doors of opporunity.

And it will be the members of this Law Council who walk clients through them.

So, tonight, in the first of many annual gatherings to come, let us toast:

To the 'Barristocracy,'

To the Rule of Law, and

To a Gibraltar where the Law is always - like the Government - the servant of the people, and never its master.

Thank you.