William Byfield's Secret E-Diary

R v Grimble is not what it seems and phone hacking strikes close to home

July 11, 2011: “When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.” -Otto von Bismarck.

My belief that Jason Grimble, the vapid youth I was defending for the alleged murder of Claude Allerick, the late and loathed circuit judge and former member of Gutteridge Chambers, had been tempted into crime by kinky leanings on the part of the victim, causing him to entice Grimble and another street boy into his flat late on a Christmas Eve for who knows what fun and games, proved to be wide of the mark.  

The arduous process of giving a modern reference compares poorly with “days gone by”

June 14, 2011: Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of introduction - Aristotle

Chambers is the professional embodiment of the truism about waiting hours for the arrival of a bus only to have three arrive together. Weeks pass for senior silks with much thumb twiddling, writing of letters and leisurely walks around the Temple. Solicitors are busily taking instructions in cases whose future appearance is but a small dark cloud on the horizon and no case management crises are looming.

The frustrations of being counsel for the defence  mount up as the case of R v Jason Grimble rumbles on...

May 9, 2010: When the wine goes in, strange things come out - Schiller

In days gone by, losing a client was an occupational hazard, borne with anger or relief for a few seconds and then forgotten as a fresh case appeared, as if by magic.

Changes to the nature of pupillages lead to reminiscences of more colourful times

April 9, 2011: “It’s a very ancient saying, but a true and honest thought, that if you become a teacher, by your pupils you’ll be taught” - Oscar Hammerstein II.

I popped in to the annual Pupillage Fair this year, spurred on by recent rumblings from the Bar Standards Board about the need to keep pupillage awards abreast with the current value of money. Sadly, my impression amongst the publicly funded sets was that this was more of a wake than a party. 

William Byfield, Gutteridge Chambers

Hard times spawn a yearning for the luxuries of yesteryears and an unexpected flirtation

14 March 2011: Change and decay in all around I see: O thou who changest not, abide with me! ...

It is often said nowadays that the Bar is not the joy it once was - “fun” is the word actually used but it has a certain frivolous connotation best avoided in works of record such as this.  

William Byfield, Gutteridge Chambers 

This is what we’ve come to ... no longer just having our fees cut to the bone, hitting the good and the bad alike, but being second-guessed by incompetents.

14 February 2011: 

“I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.”  
– Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Act II, Sc II), William Shakespeare 

William Byfield, Gutteridge Chambers
To hell with slashed fees, the BSB, higher taxes, HM Government, and my client in the Claude Allerick trial! In the frozen countryside, there lurks worse.   

15 January 2011:
“… look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.”

 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,
Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle 

30 April 2009: DIARY ATTACHMENT SUPPLEMENT/SALUTARY LESSONS/When deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake (Book of Job). 

16 May 2010: “Well, after this I should think nothing of falling down stairs.” Lewis Carroll 

was called to the Bar in the late seventies. A year later I invited an old friend to afternoon tea in Inner Temple: a splendid hour in the common room where delightful crumpets were toasted in a little kitchen. I thought my friend would be impressed. 

Let us hear the suspicions. I will look after the proofs” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Twelfth Night, 2010. 

I have been reading last year’s Diary entries. I think I was in danger of succumbing to depression just before Christmas. Fortunately, it was the effect of too much work. Andrew, my senior clerk, made up for his deficiencies in finding me any decent work after the summer break by cramming half a year’s work into December.