More recollections of early days in the law arrive in our inbox. Nick Knight, partner at DAC Beachcroft, remembers: ‘A few minutes after I had settled into my desk (facing the wall, as was customary) in my principal’s office in 1976, he asked me to pop down to the tobacconist to get him a pack of Rothmans.
‘While I was there, could I also call in to the police station opposite, pick up an old Austin A60 (not the one pictured) and drive it round to Thompson’s garage to be sold. I duly purchased the cigarettes, collected the car keys from the front desk of the police station and drove the car round to the garage. No problem – easy, this legal stuff.
‘The garage proprietor then pointed out some curious non-standard pipework poking though the floor of the car. My principal had failed to mention that one of his clients had sadly, by his own hand, ended his days in the car and the constabulary had not considered it prudent to dismantle his means of doing so before I drove it off. Fortunately, Thompson’s garage was only half a mile or so from the nick; much further and my first day in the law might also have been my last.’
Meanwhile, His Honour David Meier says that on his first day he was sent to Thames Magistrates’ Court: ‘Tobias Springer was the stipe. As I waited, a defendant was brought up charged with murder. He was attached to two CID officers by handcuffs. Prosecution asked for a remand in custody. Tobias obliged by remanding all three in custody.’
‘Those were the days,’ he adds. Keep them coming: obiter@lawsociety.org.uk.
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