Many a day in court is akin to a circus, & it’s up to the judge to be the ringmaster, says Dominic Regan
Things do not always go smoothly in court. Feelings run high. No one wants to be a loser.
In his fine book, Breaking Law, NLJ columnist Stephen Gold recounts an action brought because the defendant had stared at the claimant in public. Another litigant flaunted her décolletage in an attempt to persuade the judge that her case was to be preferred.
On an indulgent Sunday afternoon, I settled down to watch a film called Two Weeks Notice , which I assumed was about dismissal law. Imagine my surprise when the male lead was not Professor Ian Smith, who knows more about the subject than anyone else. Presumably he was unavailable, and they had to compromise with Hugh Grant. Why I mention all of this is because early in this 2002 film, a wife flings water at the lawyer representing her husband in a financial settlement meeting. It will be remembered that six years later, in 2008, Heather Mills
