THE French court artist Benoit Peyrucq, who is covering the Caroline Dickinson murder trial, is making the most of his access to the case and flogging his wares. A press release says that Peyrucq, well known for work on a series of big trials and with sketches published in Le Figaro, Liberation and other newspapers, will be in Rennes for the trial. Anyone interested in having a sketch created during the proceedings should not hesitate to contact the artists’ management, it says. Certainly different. But why stop there? Perhaps he could set up a stall outside the court building.
DON GIOVANNI is coming to the Temple. In a novel fundraising move, the Garden Opera Company is hold a performance on July 13 to raise funds for the Royal Courts of Justice Citizens Advice Bureau.
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Several top City lawyers, as well as the bureau’s new chairman, Lord Justice Mummery, are rallying to the cause, which is being led by John Hine, a retired solicitor and one of the bureau’s trustees. “More than 11,000 people a year consult the bureau for advice on cases at the High Court and Court of Appeal,” Hine says. “We now need at least £20,000 to replace part of the core-funding grant cut by the Association of London Government last year.”
The bureau has a paid staff of 17, but much work is done by lawyers from 57 firms in and close to the City. The Lord Chancellor is to be the guest of honour: perhaps, then, he can start the ball rolling with some cash — there must be some to spare from new tough legal aid rates. Details: 020-7947 7646.
A FIRST for One Essex Court: the set is boasting that it is the first to have two judges linked with chambers sitting in the International Court of Justice at the same time. Sir Frank Berman, former legal adviser at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is sitting as an ad hoc judge in the case brought by Liechtenstein against Germany over assets seized during the Second World War, and Dame Rosalyn Higgins is already a judge at the court. With friends like these, the old-boy network looks set for a few years yet.
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A BLOW for Eithne Wallis, first director-general of the Probation Service, and her successor Steve Murphy. Both made the shortlist for the post of national offender manager of the merged Prisons and Probation Service but were beaten for the six-figure job by Christine Knott, now chief probation officer in Greater Manchester. Let’s hope that Knott fares better than Wallis, who after moving only four months ago from her job as director-general of the Probation Service to lead the team overseeing the merger is now left pondering her future. But there is a consolation — a CB the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
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A POSTSCRIPT on Lord Bridge (Law Diary, June 8). Professor Gary Slapper points out that, although Lord Gardiner was the the first law lord to pick up an Open University degree, Lord Bridge is the oldest. Lord Gardiner was only 77 when he obtained his degree in 1977, seven years after he retired as Lord Chancellor, but Lord Bridge was 87. So the octogenarian scores a first after all.