If in Dowd

I was struck by a remark made by Jolyon Maugham QC in an interview with LBC's James O'Brien . Maugham is a high-flying tax lawyer turned Brexit crusader, leading a number of constitutional challenges to the English government's handling of matters since Art 50 was triggered. The conversation turned to how great lawyers are not innately good politicians (Keir Starmer's name was dropped with uncomfortable regularity). In fact, the two skillsets might be somewhat mutually incompatible. Maugham noted that lawyers are obsessed with process. By that he means not just the granular detail that the law requires, but a slavish focus on the rules as prescribed by the law and their application, as opposed to the substance or merit of those rules. Though this might seem a somewhat trite observation, it reminded me of a remark made by Michael Kirby, a former Australian High Court judge. Kirby J as he was identified in cases, was a senior judge for many years and was known colloquiall