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Here is an anecdote which seems on point...

A couple of years ago my business Socrates Training sued the Law Society for rigging the training market. We had a trial over four days. A member of the Tribunal started the second day by having coffee with the Law Society's solicitors in a nearby branch of Costa.

I was appalled. I felt (perhaps wrongly) that our chances were halved, especially as we had criticisms of the way this team had handled disclosure. Our arguments were less likely to succeed if a member of the Tribunal was on friendly terms with those we criticised.

But we could not do anything, because to raise the meeting would have antagonised the Tribunal.

We won, though I felt the Society was treated rather gently on a range of issues including costs. I always wonder if this social contact might have influenced things.

Afterwards I wrote to the judge to inform him of the incident. He wrote back explaining that such socialising was perfectly normal. Really? So why are there rules of procedure forbidding communications with the Tribunal unless all other parties are copied in?

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