Monday, November 14, 2005

The Chinese Government Comes To Town

I spoke with a colleague recently whom I worked with when I was completing my training contract. I usually speak with this particular person about once a week and we often discuss what we have both been doing during the week. When I spoke to this colleague I asked him if he had been up to anything interesting and he told me that he had been to Bow Street Magistrates Court to apply for an arrest warrant for a Chinese Minister. I found this to be rather surprising as the usual reply would have been that he had been stuck at a Magistrates Court, or had spent half the night at the Police Station.

Our conversation continued and he explained that a request had been made at his office to apply for an arrest warrant, and the partners at his firm thought it would be high profile pro bono work worth doing. I said to him, "What on earth are you doing making frivolous applications like that?" My colleague did not believe in the merits of the application but said that it had been a pleasant day out of the office as the application was made in the morning and the District Judge that heard the application delivered a reasoned judgment at 4.00 pm that day. He was even interviewed by Channel 4 news, but unfortunately they did not play the footage of the interview.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Chinese Minister in question is Bo Xilai. Extensive human rights abuses thrive under his leadership; so much so that he is refused entry into the U.S. and Canada. But not the UK! Here, we not only give him the status of a State visitor, but we honour him with a visit with the Queen.