What if someone invaded my home, tortured and killed me? What would I want to happen?

I would want that person captured, tried and punished. But I would want one of my colleagues at the Bar to represent my murderer and I would want them to do the best job they could. /1

What if they had been motivated by something I had written?
Same answer.

By my politics or religion?
Same answer.

By my sex, race or sexual orientation?
Same answer.
/2

There are some who think that barristers defending cab rank over the past couple of days are arrogant and detached from reality. I disagree. I believe in a right to representation precisely because I *don't* think that the justice should bend to my interests. /3

Nor do I think it is detached from reality. We have seen many real world regimes experiment with fixing the system by denying representation. Right now there are regimes whose response to lawyers acting for victims of oppression is to arrest the lawyers. /4

Lawyers support a right to representation not because they live in a parallel universe of high principle but because they know what happens in this one when certain principles are abandoned. /5

Brexit- Moving On:
Those who saw membership of the EU as being in UK’s best interests are told that they are going through the stages of grief. Eventually Brexit acceptance will come and we are told to hurry up about it (by "Spartans" who trumpet never surrendering) /1

But there is no need for grief. Brexit is not a permanent condition. States can apply for membership. Brexiters have a task: either delivering on their promises or persuading people to forget them. We have a task: creating the conditions for a successful application to join. /2

I want to be practical about this. What needs to be done?

1. We must advocate for membership within the UK.
2. We must help ensure that the UK meets the conditions for membership.
3. We must maintain good relations with the EU. /3

Advocacy: Good advocacy is founded on careful preparation and good information. We will need to be clear about the adverse impacts of Brexit as they occur. We will need to be clear about the developing benefits of membership (and honest about the EU’s difficulties) /4

We need to be where people will hear us: on social media, by providing expertise available for the traditional media and by lobbying politicians. We need to help amplify those speaking for us. Which bring us to a question; do we have the advocates we need? /5