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
Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva
Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice
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Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson
London labour and employment team announces partner hire
Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly
Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion
NEWS
Is a suspect’s state of mind a ‘fact’ capable of triggering adverse inferences? Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Smith of Corker Binning examines how R v Leslie reshapes the debate
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
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