Love, Peace and Harmony are generally not words many people would associate with a life in the law. Even I have had the occasional hug following a legal success (and a few nice bottles of silky smooth wine too) but getting to the point of success in a case is often a grind, and one of course that for any lawyer worth their salt requires meticulous preparation. Yes, best to avoid AI hallucinatory shortcuts here (I’ll deal with AI in a later blog), just hard slog, at least a modicum of self-belief and a metaphorical tin hat to shelter from those judges (you know who you are) who don’t take kindly to you or your arguments.
In fact, life in the law can feel like taking a constant battering at times, a place where gallows humour can come to your aid but where you might find your head in your hands when you get home from a long day at ‘the office’.
As the judge’s Day in the Life demonstrates, all emotions can be experienced over a relatively short period of time, from happiness to anger, bemusement, resignation and sometimes just downright sadness.
In my life as an advocate and a judge I too have experienced these emotions and as time has elapsed my views on the world have turned full circle. All I have seen in many courtrooms simply reflects what is happening outside the courtroom - arguments, disputes and misunderstandings that eventually find their way to law. People sue each other - both for good reason and bad (remember “the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play” from a certain politician) - people abuse one another and people seek to find meaningful settlements to what often seem insuperable family, housing and commercial problems. Lawyers argue the cases, or where they lack funds and no Legal Aid is available (i.e. mostly), litigants argue it out for themselves. Judges, mediators and arbitrators try to make some sense of it all, and juries do their best to reach verdicts, without recourse to a sneaky peek at social media or a sly Google search, lest they find themselves in the dock too. And I haven’t even reached appeals yet.
So life reflects law and vice-versa, a vibrant, crazy and rich canvas of human behaviour. When the Beatles sang “All you need is love” they probably weren’t thinking about what was happening in their local courtrooms, or perhaps they were. Because, ultimately, if people showed more love to one another the world would be a better place. Just think about it, how many songs can you think of with the word love in the title, or which are about love? Just for starters, try “I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston, "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie & Diana Ross, or on the rockier side of things, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen and "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zep. Perhaps we should just go for L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole.
That’s not to say that all songs are about love. "Sex & Violence" by the Exploited is just one of many examples of this, but by now I’m sure you get my point. When I gave up being angry love, peace and harmony became my guiding lights. And if we all approached life and law in the same way, there just may be far fewer instances of heads in hands at the end of a long day. It’s why at the end of my misjudged judicial career (I’ll get to that) I was delighted to wear my “Law and Peace” sash with pride and sing the last words of that wonderful Beatles song in full voice - “Love is all you need.”
I rest my case.
