Obiter can’t help thinking of Sir Brian Leveson’s criminal courts review as his awkward third album. There was Sir B’s first long-play vinyl, ‘The culture, practices and ethics of the press’. Worked on in the RCJ studio from 2011, it featured a lot of collab numbers, with, Obiter recalls, actor Hugh Grant popping in through the Bell Yard entrance to record. Max (Mosley, not Bygraves) was another. Obiter recalls the retired judge crooning to one Michael Gove: ‘I do not need to be told about the importance of freedom of speech, I really don’t.’
The result went to four volumes, though side 2, exploring the creative symbiosis between journalists and the police, remains blank.
Clearly Sir Brian has a good agent, because next up was the 2015 production ‘Review of Efficiency in Criminal Proceedings’, sung from the perspective of a ‘defence practitioner’s point of view’. Its charts ranking was lower, but it was a critical success whose reputation must surely grow. Before Sir Geoffrey Vos had even opened his MacBook Air, here was Brian calling for a digital solution (a ‘CJS common platform’). These words also struck a chord: ‘Getting it right first time is the absolute priority of any improvement to efficiency.’
And so to this week’s criminal courts review. It has an acoustic quality, Obiter feels (a sort of reverse-Judas, in Bob Dylan terms), in which backing group ‘Ladies and Gentlemen of The Jury’ don’t appear on tracks mentioning fraud or serious sexual assault.
Is Sir Brian drawing on lessons from his early work here? Obiter recalls he was prosecuting counsel in the trial of comedian Sir Ken Dodd for tax evasion. While the trial revealed some odd practices by the comedian – appearance fees that were paid half by cheque and half in other ways – Sir Ken was acquitted by a pesky jury of his fellow north-west of England citizens at Liverpool Crown Court.
This was achieved, not least, by the comedian’s barrister, George Carman QC, convincing jury members that accountants Grant Thornton were out of their depth in advising on comedian-taxes. Or that Sir Ken, whose estate was £27m on his death in 2018, wasn’t very good with money. Perhaps not all open goals are equally open.
As with all classic albums, the criminal courts review should be tackled in order – Obiter advises against putting it on shuffle.
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