As Robert Williams steps down as editor of The Law Reports, he reflects on 30 years rendering comprehensible the complexities of court
In 1976, when I wrote my first law report, the legal world was a very different place. Members of chambers who were not in court regularly went to the (now vanished) Temple Table for morning coffee, and chambers tea at four o’clock was an opportunity for talking over problems and catching up with the gossip. Most judgments were given extempore, even in the Court of Appeal, administrative law cases were heard in the Queen’s Bench Divisional Court, printing technology was still in the age of hot metal and galley proofs, and the idea of being able to look for law reports anywhere except in a library was unthinkable.
While hoping to develop a practice at the Bar, I looked for alternative sources of income. I decided to try law reporting, and began to report part-time for the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (ICLR). I soon found that I enjoyed writing law reports (which I was quite good at) much more than appearing
