Guildford Four lawyer collects New Year honour

The Guildford Four's solicitor, Alastair Logan, and pioneering clinical negligence lawyer Sarah Leigh were among those in the legal profession named in the New Year's Honours list.But the most senior award for a solicitor went to Kathryn Morton, director-general of legal services at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB).

Mr Logan, of The Logan Partnership in Guildford, was given an OBE for services to justice, while Ms Leigh received an OBE for services to the legal profession.Mr Logan, who also acted for the Maguire Seven and is chairman of the British Association of Lawyer Mediators, said: 'I feel very privileged to have received this honour...

I represented clients who served sentences, some of them indeterminate, uncomplainingly and in terrible conditions.

They never lost their belief in justice and the truth, and were a source of great inspiration to me.'Ms Leigh was a founding partner of Bindman & Partners before joining forces with Martyn Day to form claimant firm Leigh Day & Co.

She chaired the medical negligence working group in the Woolf inquiry - for which she took an eight-month sabbatical - and since its formation in 1996 has been secretary of the Clinical Disputes Forum.Ms Leigh said she was pleased with the award and praised her partners for the support they have given her during the 'hundreds of hours' she has worked on the forum.Solicitor Michael Spong, principal crown prosecutor in the Guildford branch of the Crown Prosecution Service, also received an OBE.Colin Russell, a consultant to London law firm Charles Russell, was named an MBE for services to the Legal Advice Centre in Bethnal Green, east London.Professor Ian Kennedy, the barrister who chaired the Bristol Infirmary inquiry, was knighted.Barrister Chris West, solicitor to the Land Registry and a prime mover in the electronic conveyancing shake-up, was awarded a CBE.Four London QCs were named in the list: there were CBEs for David Vaughan for services to European Community law; Professor John Uff, chairman of the Southall rail accident inquiry, for services to rail safety; and Michael Lewer for services to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel; while Michael FitzGerald received an OBE for services to the Planning Inspectorate and planning standards.Other notable awards included a CB to Ian Magee, chief executive of the Court Service, and an OBE to top human rights academic Francesca Klug, for services to civil justice and human rights.

By Neil Rose