Geoffrey Bindman QC considers the moral minefield of picking & choosing clients
Some years ago I was asked to take on an interesting case. A general election was approaching. A political party had been refused the hire of a town hall for an election meeting and wanted to challenge the refusal. Election law interested me and I had some experience. I turned down the invitation. The client was the British National Party.
The correct path?
Was I right to do so? My emotional reaction was revulsion at helping those with abhorrent views and aims. I rationalised it by claiming that my feelings would make it impossible to do an adequate job.
I would not have the same objection to representing those accused of and quite possibly guilty of the most appalling crimes. And I have always firmly resisted the glib assumption that a lawyer must share the political views of his or her client—a slur often addressed to those on the political left, but rarely to those on the right.
When
