Features

The United Nations risks again overlooking the rule of law in African development, says Suella Fernandes.  

I first visited Rwanda in 2008 with a group of volunteer lawyers as part of the Conservative Party’s Project Umubano. I went with Andrew Mitchell MP to teach advocacy, legal drafting, negotiation and substantive law to judges, government lawyers, community justice lawyers and law students. After further projects in sub-Saharan Africa, I co-founded the Africa Justice Foundation (AJF) with Cherie Blair CBE QC, which aims to build legal capacity in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors through education and professional skills training. We work in partnership with governments, academic institutions, Bar associations, and legal bodies in sub-Saharan Africa and around the world. We are driven by the desire to contribute to the development of robust, stable and predictable legal systems that meet the needs of both the citizens of those countries and the regional and globally competitive environments of which they are a part. 

Job title 

Former High Court Judge of the Commercial Court (1992-2007); Presiding Judge (2006-2007); former Deputy Chief Justice, DIFC Court, Dubai (2010-2013); arbitrator member of 24 Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Arbitration Chambers, Singapore. 

Holiday plans are spoiled by a dose of reality.  

August is traditionally a time for holidaying, resting, recharging the batteries and cogitating. However, there is always something nagging in the background. Just as I was packing my suitcases with horrific shirts, brightly coloured towels and those dreadful swimming shorts, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there was an uncompleted questionnaire lying on my study desk about the future of the Bar. 

Some while ago in these columns, I wrote about the Chancery Master, Richard Wakeford, whose valiant acts took place during the Second World War and for which he was awarded the highest Military decoration, the Victoria Cross.   

With the centenary of the commencement of the First World War, it is appropriate to remember another Chancery Master and his gallantry during that earlier conflict. 

Celebrating an independent judiciary.  

This week saw me chugging along by train out of Victoria to the southern confines of my circuit. I was covering, by part time judging as a Recorder, one of those inevitable periods in the life of a publicly funded Silk that actors call “resting” and we call “working on papers”. Unwisely, I travelled First Class. My efforts to balance a fi le on a Formica table the size of a postage stamp had nearly succeeded when an evil smelling creature boarded the train together with an emaciated whippet. Both stared at me. 

That is the trouble with Lord Mansfield: you don’t hear about the guy for decades and suddenly two of him turn up at once. First, the true version in the recent biography (reviewed on page 26) and now the fictional version in the film Belle, in which Tom Wilkinson plays the great Lord Chief Justice with his customary blend of authority and rough but genuine kindness.   

It centres round a short period in the life of his great-niece, Dido Belle Murray, the illegitimate daughter of his nephew and of a black slave and who was brought up as part of the family with his legitimate niece, Elizabeth. This being 2014, there is a warning that the film contains “a brief sexual assault and discrimination theme”, a warning indeed that 21st century sensibilities may conflict with 18th century reality. 

The Bar Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Vice Chairman-Elect with their favourite books for the summer.  

Summer is designed for cricket, and it is a truth universally acknowledged that the best book about cricket is Beyond a Boundary by CLR James. The book takes in race, class, colonialism and so much more, as befits the Leninist, Trinidadian nationalist author of the line: “What do they know of cricket, who only cricket know?” 

Tom Cockroft explores the need for a new offence of failure to prevent fraud.  

“A British bank is run with precision/ A British home requires nothing less/ Tradition, discipline, and rules must be the tools/ Without them – disorder! Chaos! Moral disintegration!/In short, we have a ghastly mess!” 

(“The Life I Lead”, Mary Poppins) 

Zoe Saunders on how she makes the most of her time away from court and unwinds.  

As I was leaving court recently, one of the local district judges said to me: “I understand you’ve taken up some kind of extreme sport, sky diving or something.” As someone who is terrified of heights and not much of an extreme sports fan I had no idea what he was talking about; after some discussion of other extreme sports that I would never contemplate, I tentatively offered “Do you mean freediving, Judge?” To which he replied, “oh yes, that’s the one". 

Jalil Asif QC explains how to manage your digital estate after death.  

Death and taxes have been said to be the constants in life. Barristers are always receiving offers of free tax advice so, for a change, this article is about death and its consequences.