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30 November 2012 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7540 / Categories: Opinion
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Sounding off

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Cometh the autumn: cometh the lecture, says Roger Smith

There is something about autumn that makes it a good time for legal lectures. It may be memories of the start of the academic year; enthusiasm brought on by the opening of the legal year; or just the end of the CPD period, but October and November are good months for academics and judges with a message. This year had the usual good crop.

Down among the dead

First up of the three that I have picked was the chief coroner, Judge Peter Thornton QC. He was promoted to the bench from the position of head of Doughty Street Chambers and moved sideways from the Old Bailey to the new post. As he recounted in his speech to the Howard League for Penal Reform, some uncertainty surrounded his initial appointment. For some inexplicable reason (or maybe just to get the numbers up), the Ministry of Justice put the chief coroner post up for the bonfire of the quangos when the coalition government took office. This infuriated

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