A Week in Legal London: One Lawyer's Love Affair

• Publication year: 2018
• Citation: Vol. 31 No. 1
• Author: By Lawrence E. Biegel

A Week in Legal London: One Lawyer's Love Affair

By Lawrence E. Biegel

My love affair with the British legal system began one afternoon in 1999. My family was returning to the States from a wedding in Scotland and had a long day to kill in London before our flight home. My wife and son made the decision to tour the Tower of London. For me, I had always wanted to visit the Old Bailey; a fascination borne of watching the memorable movie, "Witness for the Prosecution." It was an afternoon well spent; watching a murder trial, observing that counsel and judge wore wigs, attorneys spoke with incredible erudition and precise diction, and jurors appeared to be a mélange of home grown Brits and immigrants. Suffice to say, I was smitten with what I saw.

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In 2004, I registered for the Litigation Section's A Week in Legal London (WILL) program to get a more in-depth view of the British legal system. Boy, did I ever get up close and personal. WILL has a protocol where groups rotate between the various courts in London, e.g. the Royal Courts of Justice, the Old Bailey, the various Crown Courts and the Supreme Court. On the day my group visited "the Bailey," after watching a dramatic murder case being tried in the morning, I had lunch in the "Barristers' Mess", a dining hall for lawyers with business in the building. During that lunch, I met Andrew Bright, a barrister defending another murder case. Before I knew what had happened, that innocent lunchtime conversation morphed into an invitation from HHJ (His Honour Judge) Brian Barker to sit at counsel table with Andrew as he defended a man accused of running over his girlfriend with her own vehicle. I came to regard that case as "Murder by Mercedes."

Based on the amazing experiences I had in 2004, I volunteered to become a part of the steering committee of the WILL program.

The Week in Legal London program organizers divide up the delegates into smaller groups of ten each. One of the organizing committee members serves as the group leader or guide to the various venues and programs during the week. The groups attend court sessions, commencing with an opening session where The Right Honourable Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales gives a welcoming speech and explains some of the differences between our two systems. Besides the court visits, the groups dine at the four Inns of Court (Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn) and are treated to a series of educational MCLE programs which, in total, supply almost three full years of credit for compliance with State Bar requirements. In addition, there is a Guest Program for the spouses and other non-lawyers.

Simply said, the 2017 program was the best I have seen and bodes well for future...