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22 February 2018 / Richard Harrison
Issue: 7782 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Hamilton for lawyers #2

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Richard Harrison returns with Ten DR Commandments inspired by the 2018 Olivier award winner Hamilton

Previously in this journal I wrote an article inspired by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s celebrated musical Hamilton. It looked at the legal career of Alexander Hamilton and some of the lessons, including mediation skills, to be learned from the negotiation of the 1790 Compromise which led to Washington DC becoming the US capital.

One of the main, and tragic, themes of the show is the culture and consequences of the duelling code prevalent in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Litigation is nowadays one of the main substitutes for the duel and the elaborate code of challenge, compromise and mediation is now used to deal with legal problems. As is made clear in the song ‘Ten Duel Commandments’: ‘ Most disputes die and no one shoots ’.

And given that the song is highly catchy, I had a think about it in the context of ‘Ten DR (dispute resolution) Commandments’.

The first step in any dispute resolution procedure is to identify

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Partner joins commercial property team in Taunton office

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

NEWS
The legal profession’s claim to be a ‘guardian of fairness’ is under scrutiny after stark findings on gender imbalance and opaque progression. Writing in NLJ this week, Joshua Purser of No5 Barristers’ Chambers and Govindi Deerasinghe of Global 50/50 warn that leadership remains dominated by a narrow elite, with men holding 71% of top court roles
A legal challenge to police disclosure rules has failed, reinforcing a push for transparency in policing. In NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth examines a case where the Metropolitan Police required officers to declare membership of groups like the Freemasons
Bereavement leave is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Writing in NLJ this week, Robert Hargreaves of York St John University explains how the Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a day-one right to leave for a wider range of losses, alongside new provisions for pregnancy loss and bereaved partners
Courts are beginning to grapple with whether AI-generated material is legally privileged—and the answers are mixed. In this week's issue of NLJ, Stacie Bourton, Tom Whittaker & Beata Kolodziej of Burges Salmon examine US rulings showing how easily privilege can be lost
New guidance seeks to bring order to the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Minesh Tanna and David Bridge of Simmons & Simmons set out a framework stressing ‘transparency’, ‘explainability’ and ‘reliability’
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