Parallels between Lord Falconer and Kevin Costner (pictured) are scarce, Obiter has to admit. But the former lord chancellor evoked the spirit of the body-guarding Prince of Thieves last week at the grandly-titled SRA Regulation Symposium. In keeping with the theme of the day, Tony Blair’s former flatmate was asked to pick a film to reflect the profession following his government’s Legal Services Act 2007.

He chose Field of Dreams, a silly American fantasy where Costner, inspired by a voice in his head, ruins a perfectly good cornfield by building a baseball pitch in the middle of nowhere. ‘If you build it, he will come,’ hears Costner, before embarking on a highly speculative and often unpopular mission that turns out to be a stroke of genius. We can only hope Falconer’s epic tale turns out to have an equally happy ending.