Bon Vivant

Borderline Justice: The fight for refugee and migrant rights 
by Frances Webber,
Published by Pluto Press, October 2012
ISBN 0745331637 
£19.99 

Asylum and immigration law was described late last year, by one of its current leading barristers Colin Yeo, as “the hardest and most bitterly fought, most controversial, most convoluted, perhaps most poorly funded and surely most tilted legal battlegrounds between the individual and the state”. Practitioners nodding in agreement would do well to pick up Frances Webber’s lucid, compelling and often angry book. 

Formerly a barrister at Garden Court, she was part of a generation of activist lawyers who, since the 1970s, expanded the reach of public and human rights law into an area characterised by ever more restrictive decision-making and regressive politics. Whether battling the “culture of disbelief” in tribunals or arguing points of law before the House of Lords, she maintains that real advocacy means putting “the reality of clients’ lives into focus to judges inevitably insulated by their position of privilege and under political, bureaucratic and time pressure to see cases as purely intellectual exercises”. 

Rose Heilbron: The Story of England’s First Woman Queen’s Counsel and Judge 
by Hilary Heilbron
Published by Hart Publishing, October 2012.
ISBN 1849464014
£20 

The story of Rose Heilbron’s life, written by her daughter Hilary Heilbron QC, provides an inspiring account of her determination to succeed in a difficult profession. At the time that she began her career there were very few female barristers. She faced difficulties in obtaining pupillage as many members of chambers and clerks were reluctant to take on a female pupil. She began practice during the war years when many male barristers were away on active service. 

By the time they returned, however, she had become so successful that in 1949, at the age of 34, she became one of the first two women Silks. She undertook numerous high profile cases in both the criminal and civil courts. In due course she became the first woman appointed as a Recorder (of Burnley) and the second female High Court judge. 

The book highlights the difficulties that she faced and also describes the intense press coverage generated by the success of a female barrister coming to prominence over half a century ago. It is clear that this  was uncomfortable for her at times, but that she also used it to great effect in generating publicity for women’s rights. She combined this with railing against the social stigma of being a working mother. She did it not by strident feminism, but simply by getting on with the job in hand. 

The Rolls Building Art & Education Trust has been set up to use art works and historical items to promote awareness of the law and the business-related justice system among young people. Stephen Fash explains  

The Rolls Building is the largest specialist centre for the resolution of financial, business and property litigation in the world. It is also home to the Rolls Building Art & Education Trust (RBAET) which has been set up to use art works and historical items to promote awareness of the law and the business-related justice system among young people. 

Lanying Burley and Mike Fosberry give a round-up of practical advice when investing for children  

If you are looking to put money aside for your children or grandchildren, whether it is simply for building up a savings pot for them or to pay for school or university fees, there are a number of tax saving investments and vehicles to consider. Each holds different attractions depending on personal circumstances and attitude to risk. This article looks at some of the options. 

A much anticipated day in court ends before it even gets started 

February 8 2013: “‘Twas a rough night!” - Macbeth  

It always is a rough night prior to the first day of an important case, particularly when it is a Sunday. There is all that coffee the night before, as you take a last (or sometimes first) serious look at the papers, together with cheese snacks and all available distractions competing to draw one’s eye from the dire events of the morrow. 

Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future 
Richard Susskind
ISBN: 978 0 19 966806 9
January 2013
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Price: £9.99 

Richard Susskind, professor of law and sometime advisor to judiciary and government on computing and the law, thinks himself something of a matador, facing down the heavy, pawing mass of a legal profession that seems set to charge off on its own merry way. Rather than slaughtering the steer before him, however, Susskind wants to grab it by the horns and lead it out of the ring into sunny pastures new. 

Old friends lead to reflections and regrets about old times. 

January 12, 2013:  "Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be." - Peter De Vries  

The usual January panic is upon me. Returning to work in the first part of January is always depressing and I had some days to make up as a Recorder. 

“The lights are beginning to go out for some, including the most able, all over the Temple - and not just the Christmas ones” 

December 7, 2012: “A fool may be known by six things: anger without cause; speech without profit; change without progress; inquiry without object; putting trust in a stranger, and mistaking foes for friends” - Arabian Proverb 

There is something wonderfully reassuring about public inquiries. First, we have a scandal; then we have embarrassed politicians who desperately want to kick the problem into the long grass; next there is the high-ranking judge lured into the public arena together with an army of barristers and solicitors; this is followed by months of public hearings where some advocates achieve minor cult status for a very short time and then, after a delay of weeks, months or sometimes years we get the report. Finally, we have the politicians’ response, in which they agree to do anything a clever civil servant could have told them to do in the first place and resolutely refuse to do that which they had no intention of doing from the kick-off. Predictably, whilst our courts fall apart around us and the facilities deteriorate below those of a run-down housing estate and the legal profession is squeezed and browbeaten, there is always plenty of money for these public circuses of utter pointlessness. 

Joseph Giret QC took time away from the Bar to compete in the Haute Route on behalf of Parkinson’s UK. He describes his journey ...  

Charity is a vital part of oiling otherwise creaking joints in our society and community at all levels, including bursaries on the one hand and the sick and needy on the other. Charity works with business today on an unprecedented scale; it is a valuable partnership for a business because of its positive projection. Charity begins at home for sure, but most assuredly ends with the business end of finding the cash. This is my story of a fundraising campaign I ran on behalf of the charity Parkinson’s UK. It was a season-long, full-on bike racing campaign to raise as much funding as possible and to raise awareness of Parkinson’s. 

Sean Jones QC and Professor Dominic Regan review the wines on offer this Christmas.  

We are back with a range of recommendations again. Not a dud amongst them. Last year we saw every major supermarket chain run a “ Buy 6 get 25% off” promotion and the serious buyer should look to swoop on these deals.