8
9
Law
Winter
2013
becoming a professional actor, following
some 24 plays in which I trod the boards
while at Oxford? Or should I give in to the
dream I had long harboured and seek to
become a barrister?
I chose the latter, because in law
and the Bar I saw a great challenge,
and an opportunity to ally analysis
with performance, and so to combine
in some respect elements of the other
paths I might have taken, but to a
purpose which I thought more likely
to make a significant difference to the
needs of others.
It is probably fair to call the path I have
followed since unusual, for a barrister.
I began as a pupil, then tenant, in
a well-regarded common law set of
Chambers in London, where in my first
five years of practice I was lucky enough
to amass experience as an advocate
before a great many different Courts and
Tribunals, from Employment Tribunals to
the Court of Appeal.
Then, some five years in, I decided I
must use my fluent French, and I wanted
to work on major international projects, as
well as doing disputes work.
Those twin ambitions led me to move
to France’s greatest law firm, Gide, in
Paris. There I spent the next 12 years,
becoming dual qualified as a French
Avocat
and working on a mixture
of international project financing
predominantly with Africa, Asia and
the Middle East, and on international
commercial disputes, and building a
multi-lingual and multi-cultural team
of lawyers, which I continued to grow
between 2008 and 2012 when I returned
to London for Gide.
That team followed me when, in early
2012, I decided to move to my current
firm, Brown Rudnick, a well-known US
firm which is more of a high-end boutique
with some 250 lawyers, as opposed to
a huge international machine of 750+
lawyers.
The distinctive and somewhat rare
feature of the very modern team which
I have built is the fact that it features
lawyers from top to bottom who have both
common law and civil law qualifications
and experience. We are a “one-stop shop”
composed of barristers and trial lawyers
who do our own advocacy, very often
pitted against the magic circle and top
Queen’s Counsel from England, wherever
the matters are heard. I have just returned
from a two week trial in the DIFC Courts
in Dubai, in which I was pitted against
Vernon Flynn QC and Robin Knowles
Why does the
law so fascinate?
Because the
Law
is the ass to his
master,
Progress
,
and as such can only
ever seek to follow
economic, scientific
and commercial
development,
by attempting
to regulate new
invention and
innovation …
Centre Courts, and the Eastern Caribbean
Supreme Court
2
.
During my career to date, I have been
fortunate enough to advise on some very
major international disputes, including
the following:
• I defended China against the US
before the WTO Appellate Body in
an action brought by the US to prise
open the multi-billion dollar internal
Chinese market for sound recordings,
cinema and film and music rights;
• I advised the main contractor on major
disputes relating to contract revenues
on the US $18 billion Pearl GTL project,
the largest gas-to-liquid refinery in the
world;
• I advised France on the severely
delayed €25 billion A400Mmilitary
airlifter project, helping the seven
purchaser nations to find a solution to
kick-start and complete the program.
The greatest single thing I can say
about the job that I do is that, in 18 years
of practice to date, I cannot recall having
had a boring day at work, and I believe
that the work my team does makes some
small concrete difference and contribution
to international relations and global
commerce.
Why does the law so fascinate? Because
the
Law
is the ass to his master,
Progress
,
and as such can only ever seek to follow
economic, scientific and commercial
development, by attempting to regulate
new invention and innovation, with
varying degrees of success.
While mankind seeks to journey ever
onwards and upwards, there is no end in
sight to the exhilarating developments
which the laws of our world will need to
adapt and evolve to reflect.
As the Gatekeeper in the Kafka parable
suggests, if we purposely construe his
words in a constructive and positive
way, any individual may find that an
opportunity – perhaps even a unique
opportunity – exists for him or her
somewhere within the law.
CBE QC, who also sits as a Deputy High
Court judge in London.
The cases we handle are sometimes
before State Courts and sometimes
subject to arbitration and are very often
heard abroad, whether in Africa, Asia,
Europe, offshore, or in the US, as well as
at home in London. This has led to me
being admitted in other jurisdictions,
such as the Dubai International Financial
1
English: “Before the Law”
2
Whose jurisdiction extends, inter alia, to Antigua, the BVI, St. Kitts & Nevis.
