Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury, who indeed went to my school, gave a very deep message after receiving his Honorary Doctor of Law. Despite an upbeat approach, which mirrored that of Prof. Richard de-Friend, who taught me the LLM Business, Finance and Legal Services module, both Baron Neuberger, the current Master of Rolls, and Prof de-Friend described how graduates of law were hitting the law during an unfortunate confluence of different issues, such as the implementation of alternative business structures and economic challenges. Baron Neuberger nonetheless quoted, in truncated form, the words of Robert Hooker, “the seat of law is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world“. Baron Neuberger explained that the biography delivered by Prof de-Friend might have been somewhat sanitised, in that he has had experienced tough times whereby he felt that he nearly never made it to the Bar; Baron Neuberger spoke honestly about his time in the financial industry, and said affectionately at the end how he ‘envied’ us starting our journeys in the law (even if some of us would leave.)

We were given a reminder today the law is the “learned profession”. I received this morning officially my Master of Law with commendation from the College of Law, and this LLM in international legal practice has enriched my legal education massively, I feel. After specialist modules lasting several months each in international commercial legal practice, international public companies and loans practice, international mergers and acquisitions practice, business, finance and legal services, international arbitration practice, and internal capital markets and loans practice, I did my practice-focussed dissertation on the international commercial legal principles in the formation of a cloud computing agreement (or even contract). My next-door neighbour this morning, Alex, wishes to be a barrister in criminal law, and had done his dissertation on insanity. We had a frank discussion about whether the McNaghten’s Rules were ‘fit for purpose’ in the light of contemporary neuroscience, not of course disclosing that I had nearly wished to study the subject for a second Ph.D. of mine.

Here are some photos of the event, which my friend took with his wife. It was held this morning at the Central Hall at Storey’s Gate, Westminster, just a stone’s throw from where Baron Neuberger, Dominic Grieve and I were at school (in very different years, I hasten to add.) I am very sorry my late Father was unable to attend; he would have loved it, and the course was only possible through the deposit which he paid one afternoon in a bank here in Camden Town as a present to me. I would like to give special mention to Jon Harman, Farhat Mahmood, Tricia Chatt, Alexis Longshaw, and Prof Richard de-Friend, all of whom are the College of Law for me, and have supported me in various contexts.