Hats off to His Honour Judge Leonard for keeping his wits about him on a very busy week. It began and ended with the Max Clifford trial, with the jury delivering a complex verdict on the Monday and sentencing, with nine pages of sentencing remarks, on the Friday.

In between Leonard (pictured) had to juggle the now infamous case of R v Crawley and others – the first to be affected by barristers’ refusal to work for the new very high cost case fees. In a detailed judgment, Leonard kicked the case out for want of defence advocates. He even had time to coin a legal neologism.

The case was notably argued on behalf of the five defendants by the prime minister’s brother Alexander Cameron QC, acting pro bono. Paragraph nine of the ruling, outlining the argument put by the defence, notes that Cameron acted ‘bro bono’. Obiter’s Latin is a bit rusty, but we think that translates loosely as ‘sticking one on your brother for the general good’. 

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