FORGET radical roots and old Labour. Even Michael Mansfield, QC, standard bearer for the Left, has now made the metaphorical journey from Walworth Road to Millbank. After 20 years in scruffy Dickensian rooms at Tooks Court, Mansfield’s civil liberties set has moved to a gleaming steel-and-glass purpose-built chambers in trendy Clerkenwell. No more lawyers crammed into tiny rooms — their converted warehouse at 8 Warner Yard is all about “hot-desking” and hi-tech equipment. The clerks’ engine room looks “more like the command deck of the Starship Enterprise than anything out of Rumpole”, says Carol Thomas, executive clerk. No doubt Mansfield is already at the controls, shouting orders and brandishing his phaser. But is it wise to boldly go where no set has gone before? Well, you don’t need a teleporter to reach the courts — they are only a walk away.
IF THE Hunting Bill is thrown out by peers, top barristers are lining up to challenge the Government over the lawfulness of using the Parliament Act 1949 to force the ban through. The team will be led by “the barrister’s barrister” Sir Sydney Kentridge, QC, and Richard Lissack, QC, a huntsman. It would be the first court challenge to the Parliament Act. One lawyer said: “The 1943 Act was a change to the earlier 1911 Act, imposed unilaterally by the Commons on the Lords. If that can be done, then the Commons could just abolish the Lords, or the monarchy, if they felt like it.” With a bloody battle in store in the Lords, more than a few MPs must wish that they could do the former.
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THE gloves are really off when the big boys are called in. Christie’s is going to the Court of Appeal over parts of the judgment in the case brought by Taylor Thomson, daughter of the Canadian media magnate Lord Thomson of Fleet, over the authenticity of two urns that cost £2 million. The auction house has called in one of the Bar’s top names: Jonathan Sumption, QC. So how does Herbert Smith, which acts for Thomson , respond? By calling in the Bar’s other big name, Lord Grabiner, QC. “They have a go at each other in court but in the politest way,” one barrister said. Should be entertaining.
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THE City firm SJ Berwin took first prize for the best large law firm in this year’s Prospects Legal Cup, with Harvey Ingram Owston, of Leicester, coming top among the small law firms. The business game, organised by Colin Rymill at the University of East Anglia and supported by The Times, attracts teams of trainees from commerce, government and the professions. Lawyers are now the biggest group — almost half the entries. The idea is to accumulate the biggest profits, at which lawyers are clearly adept. SJ Berwin, however, was pipped to the top prize by the actuarial consultants Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow. Send entries for 2005 to Colin Ryman at bimg@uea.ac.uk.
STEVEN KAY, QC, clearly faces an uphill task in defending Slobodan Milosevic and is seeking extra legal hands. Don’t all rush at once — subject matter apart, there’ll be no pay. E-mail Kay at goodnightvienna@btopenworld.com.