Mother in Law: Learning from the Lionesses

I have to file this column on a Tuesday, so at the time of writing, I am blissfully unaware of the outcome of the Euro 2025 semi-final against Italy. I say ‘blissful’, but the ignorance is pretty painful. England (who I am sure you are all following, as you would the men’s team) haven’t made it easy on their supporters. 

You just never know how sport is going to go, which is what I’m always telling my clients about litigation (see what I did there?).

The wonderful Lionesses, led by the extremely stylish captain Leah Williamson, headed into this tournament as defending champions. They are, it seems to me, good people who work hard at what they do. For various reasons, you don’t hear much about them getting banned from driving for speeding in their fancy cars, or getting arrested for assaults in nightclubs. The subs (dare I say with the exception, perhaps, of Mary Earps) do not get the hump for not being in the starting eleven and know that they are an important cog in the machine, nevertheless. 

You have also had cases like this, right? Good people who deserve to win, and on paper, look like they should?

On paper, they should have won their first group game against France. It started well, but an early disallowed goal for England that felt very unfair gave France a moment of weakness to exploit. 

For the rest of that game, England and France had the same raw materials – the same squads as before the disallowed goal, with the same strengths, weaknesses and stats behind them – as they did at the start, but it seemed like everything had changed. A further bad and unfair decision came, not to award a foul to us in the lead-up to France’s second goal. Although some changes helped us get a goal back, there was no time to get any more. Never have the defending champions lost their first game. 

When your raw materials are humans – solicitors, barristers, clients, witnesses and the judge – you never know how it is going to play out. In fact, somehow, with football, it seems that bringing in the machines has made things even more unpredictable, so please don’t think artificial intelligence will help matters. VAR said Beth Mead was offside for that first goal, but is it really in the spirit of the rule to count a defender’s shoulders but not their arms? Did it affect ‘the play’?  

Did the judge have a decent breakfast? Has the client paid your most recent bill? We have all had clients where we feel like we are fighting for them while also having our own battles with them, right? Is counsel’s tongue as silky as Lauren James’ feet, or are they not quite themselves today? Did the parties exchange some texts over the weekend that changed things a bit? Did you end up filing a small supplemental bundle over the weekend, annoying everyone? 

And that is before we come to the massive unpredictability of witnesses. Will they say what you expect them to say? I have written before about the inaccuracy of memories (tinyurl.com/y69dfdm5) and both over- and under-confidence can affect the perceived authenticity of an account. Like a star player, a star witness might not deliver on the day. 

While I have confidence in our judiciary, they are also fallible. On numerous occasions, I have seen judges academically intrigued by a certain aspect of a case, or totally uninterested in another part, leading to a party having to pivot their focus on the hoof. And sometimes their decisions are just wrong. 

Your clients may have the warrior attitude of Lucy Bronze and be determined to leave everything on the pitch, trying their absolute hardest for a win, and let’s not pretend it isn’t great to be beside them when they do.

If, on the other hand, you find yourself on the receiving end of an own goal, you will no doubt go over the minutiae with your team or counsel – and it is a hell of a lot easier to reflect on what you should or shouldn’t have done with the benefit of hindsight. While you may think ‘I won’t do it that way next time’, next time you will have different humans to wrangle. The safest strategy is, of course, ADR, and always reminding your clients of the inherent unpredictability of court proceedings.