JAMES TURNER, QC, of One King’s Bench Walk, is acting for Alan Miller in a House of Lords case that will establish how much money spouses can be awarded in “short-marriage big-money” divorces. Mr Miller appealed the original order, which awarded more than £5 million to Mrs Miller after a marriage of less than three years.
What are the main challenges in such a case and what are the possible implications?
The eventual decision, together with the decision in the McFarlane case that was heard during the same sitting, is likely to have financial implications in the future for a vast number of the people who go through the unhappy experience of divorce, not just in the “big money” cases. To try to provide workable and fair guidance for all such cases is a daunting task for the House of Lords.
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What was your worst day as a lawyer?
I was devastated to be told by the Lord Chancellor’s Department that my application to become a recorder had been rejected, because, among my other shortcomings, I was not sufficiently user-friendly. The hurt was mitigated a little when I read in a legal journal during the same week a view expressed by some of my instructing solicitors that lay clients adore me. The truth may be somewhere between those two extremes.
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What was your most memorable experience as a lawyer?
There are so many, some good and some bad. Getting to my feet to present the case for the Home Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice in the Divisional Court in the Pinochet litigation is certainly an experience I’ll never forget. Appearing before the House of Lords in the White v White case, in which I represented Mrs White and which has had a significant effect on matrimonial finance cases generally, is something else that will always stick in my mind.
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Who has been the most influential person in your life and why?
Camden Pratt, QC, my mentor over the years in every aspect of the law; James Richardson, the erudite, pithy and perfectionist editor-in-chief of Archbold, and the everenthusiastic Dennis Clarke, my longest-standing instructing solicitor, who has taught me that there is no such thing as a hopeless case.
Why did you become a lawyer?
I liked the idea of being self-employed, dressing up and being paid for arguing and nit-picking. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise until too late that being a lawyer, although certainly stimulating, is rather hard work and can be both emotionally and physically draining.
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What would your advice be to anyone wanting a career in law?
Remember that it is not just a job; it will take over your life.
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Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?
Still toiling away at the same old coalface, having continued to invest my income over the years in my children and other expensive habits, rather than in pension funds.
l_tsang@hotmail.com