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My brother-in-law's father was a lawyer in Germany in the mid-1930s who took on the defence of a communist. He was warned that, as a consequence, he would be well-advised to leave the country, which he did. Although it probably saved his life, given what happened there later, I can't help but see something of a parallel here between the attitude of the German government of the time to lawyers taking on unpopular causes, and that of our own government. The government's apparent assumption that taking on a case which is based on credible evidence and instructions must necessarily involve professional misconduct by the lawyers if the case does not succeed in court is a very dangerous precedent indeed and a potential threat to the rule of law. It must be for the court and the court alone to decide what is and is not a proper case to bring. I hope we never get to a stage where lawyers become intimidated and feel unable to represent someone as a result.