James Flynn QC, of Brick Court Chambers, has won a major case for the European Commission on international football tournaments. The European General Court dismissed proceedings brought by the governing bodies in football, FIFA and UEFA, on UK and Belgium media rules, and ruled that European countries could require that World Cup and European football championship games be shown free-to-air.
He specialises in EU and competition law. Outside the Competition Appeal Tribunal, previous cases include Akzo Nobel which ruled that in-house counsel have no right to legal professional privilege in cartel investigations; the Microsoft appeal on the abuses found by the European Commission; and he was involved in the first contested criminal cartel trial on airline passenger fuel surcharge.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
At various times a car driver, theatre critic, keyboard player in a band like Yes, barrister and novelist.
What was your first job?
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Gardening in a mental hospital. Some of the patients were allowed to help us. One described to me all his suicide attempts and concluded: “so I’m lucky to be alive.”
What is your most treasured possession?
I would not like to be without the green coffee cup my grandmother gave me after a visit when I lived in Paris.
Which book inspires you and why?
I am suspicious of people who swear by any single book. I am carrying a selection of Auden around at the moment.
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How do you relax?
Reading in the bath with a sloe gin. Playing the piano.
What’s the best thing on TV?
The Wimbledon fortnight. And Sky Atlantic.
What’s your favourite song/music on your iPod and why?
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I don’t get on with iPods: music needs to fill a room, not your ears. I listen to the same CD over and over. At the moment, at home, Andreas Scholl’s sensational new Purcell disc and in chambers, Radu Lupu’s matchless Kreisleriana.
Which film do you wish you had appeared in?
Just at the moment, The Big Sleep rather appeals. Otherwise, Pandora’s Box to get a bit closer to Louise Brooks.
Who is your hero/ine and why?
There are many people I admire, but I deplore hero worship.
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What’s the most adventurous thing you have ever done – or would like to do - non-professionally?
Saying in public that I am not the adventurous type. I have no ambitions for hardship, danger, speed or physical achievement.
Which person, living or dead or fictional, would you have as your ideal dinner guest - why?
Voltaire: civilised, witty, waspish; and would enjoy the food and wine.
What is your best quality?
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Equanimity.
What is your worst quality?
Indecision. No, procrastination. Or indecision.
What quality do you hate most in others?
Lack of consideration; there’s a lot of it about.
What would you want as your epitaph?
He got there in the end.