Dominic Raab doesn’t appear to like lawyers much, despite being one himself. But has this seemingly reflex hostility degenerated into outright provocation?

Gazette columnist and legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg reported last month that more than 11,000 serving or former part-time judges in England and Wales stand to lose pension benefits worth a total of £3.5bn at the end of the year if the government’s Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill passes, and no further action is taken by the justice secretary.

It is surely inconceivable that Raab won’t act. But when handed the opportunity in the Commons this week to say the government will protect those pensions, he pointedly failed to give any guarantees.

‘Does he enjoy winding lawyers up?’ Joshua asked in A Lawyer Writes, his Substack newsletter (rozenberg.substack.com/). Obiter struggles to  think of any other explanation.

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