Judge P N Brandt’s springer spaniel slept at his master’s feet. In court in Colchester, of course. The dog was reputed to relax litigants and witnesses by its presence. Whether the judge left it to the pet to alert advocates that they were barking up the wrong tree, is unknown. All very sweet, but the practice was bound to lead to trouble. A defendant who picked up a £6,000 judgment from the judge and Barty was reported to be seeking a retrial on the ground that the dog had snored during his hearing and distracted him. I know this story to be true as I plagiarised it from one of my ‘Litigation’ columns (as they then were) in the NLJ in 1995. I also see an announcement that I had been appointed to the district bench during that year and so that also must be true.
Archive: Civil way: 24 March 2023
As Stephen Gold ends his journey through the archives at 1995, he meets a canine court user and a sweet trolley suffering from shock
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage
Firm expands London disputes practice with senior partner hire
Druces—Lisa Cardy
Senior associate promotion strengthens real estate offering
Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith
Leading patent litigator joins intellectual property team
NEWS
Human rights lawyers, social justice champion, co-founder of the law firm Bindmans, and NLJ columnist Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC has died at the age of 92 years
The government’s plan to introduce a Single Professional Services Supervisor could erode vital legal-sector expertise, warns Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, in NLJ this week
Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers argues that the ‘failure to prevent’ model of corporate criminal responsibility—covering bribery, tax evasion, and fraud—should be embraced, not resisted
Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'
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