
Preface
In a career of over 40 years at the commercial Bar, I have rarely felt that any of my cases was interesting enough to engage non-lawyers. But this one was an exception. Others agree: the case was made unto a book, Dead in the Water, written by two Bloomberg journalists. (Their account is unfortunately inaccurate to a high degree, as I observed in a letter to the Financial Times.) A television series is in preparation, written by Beau Willimon, the creator of the American version of House of Cards. The story does not require sensationalising; it is quite spectacular enough as it stands.
I wrote this piece for the Guardian Long Read column in 2020. The editor accepted it for publication, so I feel it qualifies for inclusion on this website, but at the last minute I got cold feet. There are conventions governing barristers writing about their own cases, and although this essay downplays and anonymises my role as leader of the team of lawyers who represented the ultimately successful insurers, I decided not to go forward with it. Time has now passed and, as I say, the case has moved into the public arena. It therefore seems appropriate to tell the story as it really happened…