Being there part 9
In most of the cases we have considered thus far when there is a problem about the barrister being there on time, it has been due to bad luck or a combination of unfortunate circumstances. However sadly and very, very occasionally, this is not the case. It is just down to stupidity or worse.
I know of one instance where a barrister, who was just starting off his career, had a 2 p.m. hearing. It was a fairly simple matter even for someone so junior. Having arrived early, he decided to go and do some shopping. He then lost track of the time and ended up 20 minutes late for court. He was profusely apologetic to the judge, listened to by his disbelieving client. Needless to say the late showing was reported by the client back to the solicitor. The instructing solicitor was profanely abusive to the barrister’s clerk as a result. ("Try young Mr X, he won't let you down.", had been the line from the clerk that had obtained the brief in the first place). This late attendance qualifies as utterly unbelievable. Needless to say it did not lead to the barrister being retained by the solicitor again, or in Chambers.
For those of a suspicious turn of mind, mindful that part of the rules of QC blog are that details have to be changed (to protect the guilty as well as the innocent) I should make one thing clear. Neither for reasons of political correctness, nor any other reason, have I changed the sex of the barrister concerned. Those amongst you who are erroneously assuming that this may have been a lady barrister, and that I've changed the details to spare her blushes, are completely wrong.
A rather worse instance occurred during a long-running criminal trial. It was some way from where the barrister lived, and for the duration of the trial he was staying in a local hotel. To be entirely fair to the barrister concerned (not that this amounts to an excuse anyway) one week there was a part of the trial that really didn't affect his defendant. It was therefore most unlikely that he would have anything to do, although he still needed to be present, just in case. This particular barrister was rather too fond of his drink and, mindful that there was little that needed doing, really let himself go during this particular week. Things culminated on the Thursday morning with him failing to attend court. Inquiries were made at his hotel, where it was discovered that he was still sleeping peacefully. A Herculean effort allowed him to get to court within half an hour, (minimizing the delay to the trial) but once something like that happens the end is nigh for your career. (Word gets around, and as soon as solicitors realise someone has such a problem who on earth would take the chance of instructing such a barrister?).
Although I have never known it happen in the modern era, occasionally barristers just give up. I read the following story in the legal memoirs of a Victorian barrister. A young barrister was due to appear in an afternoon court, on a simple case. He didn't and it was adjourned. Inquiries were made and it was established that he had had lunch with a pretty young actress. Immediately afterwards they were seen travelling elsewhere in a carriage. He never came back to Chambers ever again. Nor would he have been welcome back there if he had. History does not relate whether he thought it was worth giving up his career, or what he did thereafter. Nor does it relate precisely where they were going in the carriage that made the journey so important.