mandragora (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mandragora) wrote2002-10-30 02:52 pm
mandragora) wrote2002-10-30 02:52 pm
Banned!
There are many members of the English & Welsh judiciary who are the epitome of kindness and courtesy. Unfortunately, the judge I appeared before this morning wasn't.
I was sitting in a packed court-room waiting for the first of the couple of cases I was dealing with to be called when, disaster! A mobile phone went off.
Everyone - counsel, solicitors, police officers, defendants - dived for their briefcases/jacket pockets/handbags etc to check that it wasn't them. It wasn't. It was me.
Sigh.
I could've sworn that my mobile was off. Just as well I didn't swear to it, as I'd have been committing perjury. Double sigh.
Cue hasty exit on my part complete with ringing phone, which was in the depths of my bag which meant that I was unable to reach in and swiftly delete the call. As I dived for the door, the judge yelled after me to not to bother come back.
He'd banned me from the court.
Luckily, a couple of colleagues were in court and were able to take over my cases, so the clients were represented.
As everyone who'd been in court trickled out as their cases were dealt with, they all stopped to commiserate - it was definitely a case of there but for the grace of God and all that.
It wasn't just the fact that my mobile had gone off, it was also the fact that it had happened in front of this particular judge, who is, hmm, well let's just say, 'not popular' and leave it at that. One lawyer commented that she'd had a three week trial in front of this judge at the end of which she felt like slitting her wrists. Several commented that they really didn't think the 'offence' warranted being banned.
Mind you, the clerk of the court rather snottily commented to me later that if it happened again I could be done for contempt (because, of course, in the scheme of things leaving one's mobile on is such a heinous offence). Several lawyers said that I was, in fact, lucky that I hadn't been banged up in the cells for the rest of the day (I think they were joking, but who knows with this judge?).
Still, it could have been worse. Apparently, there is a judge who confiscates mobiles if they go off in his court and never gives them back. This is of dubious legality, but what are you gonna do? Apply for judicial review because he won't give your mobile back and incur the opprobrium of the Court of Appeal? I think not.
A colleague was in court the other day in front of another judge when a mobile starting ringing. The judge went apeshit, yelling at everyone in court that when he found out who's it was... Eventually, everyone twigged to the fact that the sound was coming from somewhere suspiciously close to the judge. Yep. It was the judge's own phone that was going off. Proof that no one is infallible.
As for me, well now my card is well and truly marked where this particular judge is concerned. But all I have to do is to decline to take on any cases in front of him for the next twenty years or so and I should be home free...
I was sitting in a packed court-room waiting for the first of the couple of cases I was dealing with to be called when, disaster! A mobile phone went off.
Everyone - counsel, solicitors, police officers, defendants - dived for their briefcases/jacket pockets/handbags etc to check that it wasn't them. It wasn't. It was me.
Sigh.
I could've sworn that my mobile was off. Just as well I didn't swear to it, as I'd have been committing perjury. Double sigh.
Cue hasty exit on my part complete with ringing phone, which was in the depths of my bag which meant that I was unable to reach in and swiftly delete the call. As I dived for the door, the judge yelled after me to not to bother come back.
He'd banned me from the court.
Luckily, a couple of colleagues were in court and were able to take over my cases, so the clients were represented.
As everyone who'd been in court trickled out as their cases were dealt with, they all stopped to commiserate - it was definitely a case of there but for the grace of God and all that.
It wasn't just the fact that my mobile had gone off, it was also the fact that it had happened in front of this particular judge, who is, hmm, well let's just say, 'not popular' and leave it at that. One lawyer commented that she'd had a three week trial in front of this judge at the end of which she felt like slitting her wrists. Several commented that they really didn't think the 'offence' warranted being banned.
Mind you, the clerk of the court rather snottily commented to me later that if it happened again I could be done for contempt (because, of course, in the scheme of things leaving one's mobile on is such a heinous offence). Several lawyers said that I was, in fact, lucky that I hadn't been banged up in the cells for the rest of the day (I think they were joking, but who knows with this judge?).
Still, it could have been worse. Apparently, there is a judge who confiscates mobiles if they go off in his court and never gives them back. This is of dubious legality, but what are you gonna do? Apply for judicial review because he won't give your mobile back and incur the opprobrium of the Court of Appeal? I think not.
A colleague was in court the other day in front of another judge when a mobile starting ringing. The judge went apeshit, yelling at everyone in court that when he found out who's it was... Eventually, everyone twigged to the fact that the sound was coming from somewhere suspiciously close to the judge. Yep. It was the judge's own phone that was going off. Proof that no one is infallible.
As for me, well now my card is well and truly marked where this particular judge is concerned. But all I have to do is to decline to take on any cases in front of him for the next twenty years or so and I should be home free...
no subject
no subject
And in other news, the office has just phoned and asked me whether I want to do a hearing tomorrow...in front of the same judge.
I gracefully declined.