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| Jonathan Sumption: the brain of Britain | Jonathan Sumption: the brain of Britain |
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| In October 2012, Jonathan Sumption QC argued his last case as a barrister. It was a big one; in terms of fees (undisclosed, but probably north of £5m) the biggest of his career. He had deferred his appointment to the supreme court in order to see it through. | In October 2012, Jonathan Sumption QC argued his last case as a barrister. It was a big one; in terms of fees (undisclosed, but probably north of £5m) the biggest of his career. He had deferred his appointment to the supreme court in order to see it through. |
| Sumption was representing the billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich against his nemesis the billionaire oligarch Boris Berezovsky. He had cleared his desk and spent months studying the murky nexus of politics and business in Russia in the 1990s. This was the backdrop to Berezovky’s claim that Abramovich owed him several billion pounds as a result of a deal they brokered together to take over a giant slice of Russia’s oil industry. “There was no law in it,” Sumption recalled. “It was all fact. A swearing match about what had or hadn’t happened in about half a dozen meetings, some of which may or may not have occurred.” | Sumption was representing the billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich against his nemesis the billionaire oligarch Boris Berezovsky. He had cleared his desk and spent months studying the murky nexus of politics and business in Russia in the 1990s. This was the backdrop to Berezovky’s claim that Abramovich owed him several billion pounds as a result of a deal they brokered together to take over a giant slice of Russia’s oil industry. “There was no law in it,” Sumption recalled. “It was all fact. A swearing match about what had or hadn’t happened in about half a dozen meetings, some of which may or may not have occurred.” |
| Related: Sign up to the long read email | Related: Sign up to the long read email |
| On day four of the trial, Sumption began his cross-examination of Berezovsky. Berezovsky had a doctorate in applied mathematics and fancied himself Sumption’s intellectual sparring partner. While pursuing an extraordinarily successful legal career over the previous four decades, Sumption had, on the side, published three volumes of a five-volume history of the hundred years war. Berezovsky told Sumption that to prepare, he had read them all. He should have done more case reading. | On day four of the trial, Sumption began his cross-examination of Berezovsky. Berezovsky had a doctorate in applied mathematics and fancied himself Sumption’s intellectual sparring partner. While pursuing an extraordinarily successful legal career over the previous four decades, Sumption had, on the side, published three volumes of a five-volume history of the hundred years war. Berezovsky told Sumption that to prepare, he had read them all. He should have done more case reading. |
| Sumption’s first question was: “In 1995, what was your opinion about political corruption?” | Sumption’s first question was: “In 1995, what was your opinion about political corruption?” |
| “As far as me is concerned, my opinion is that definitely it was corruption in Russia, much less than now, but it was,” said Berezovsky, beginning a dance of equivocation. Over the next few minutes, Sumption demolished him. Berezovsky admitted, yes, political connections were important to business in Russia; he admitted yes, he had taken over a TV company in order to be politically influential; he admitted yes, he had been an intimate of Boris Yeltsin. | “As far as me is concerned, my opinion is that definitely it was corruption in Russia, much less than now, but it was,” said Berezovsky, beginning a dance of equivocation. Over the next few minutes, Sumption demolished him. Berezovsky admitted, yes, political connections were important to business in Russia; he admitted yes, he had taken over a TV company in order to be politically influential; he admitted yes, he had been an intimate of Boris Yeltsin. |
| Sumption’s second on the case, Helen Davies QC, watched with accustomed admiration. “Berezovsky thought he was more intelligent than Jonathan,” she told me. “The trouble was, he wasn’t.” | Sumption’s second on the case, Helen Davies QC, watched with accustomed admiration. “Berezovsky thought he was more intelligent than Jonathan,” she told me. “The trouble was, he wasn’t.” |
| Sumption himself was characteristically modest in the retelling. He pointed out that it had taken nine days of cross‑examination to unpick Berezovsky’s case, although he conceded that, “the case was pretty well over at the end of it”. The judge concurred, concluding, “I found Mr Berezovsky an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable, witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes.” Berezovsky lost. (Less than a year later, broken and out of money, he was found dead in the bathroom of his home near Ascot, Berkshire.) | Sumption himself was characteristically modest in the retelling. He pointed out that it had taken nine days of cross‑examination to unpick Berezovsky’s case, although he conceded that, “the case was pretty well over at the end of it”. The judge concurred, concluding, “I found Mr Berezovsky an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable, witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes.” Berezovsky lost. (Less than a year later, broken and out of money, he was found dead in the bathroom of his home near Ascot, Berkshire.) |
| “It was a wonderful case to go out on,” said Sumption, who is 66. “And one of the things that made it a good one was winning it. That’s always the case. Barristers may say to you, it’s how you play the game. We like winning. We like winning!” | “It was a wonderful case to go out on,” said Sumption, who is 66. “And one of the things that made it a good one was winning it. That’s always the case. Barristers may say to you, it’s how you play the game. We like winning. We like winning!” |
| * * * | * * * |
| Sumption is often described as the cleverest man in Britain. “Brain the size of a planet,” wrote Alastair Campbell in his diaries, with some relief, when he learned that Sumption was going to defend him in the Hutton inquiry that had been called to investigate the death of weapons expert David Kelly in 2003, essentially pitting the BBC against the government over the reporting of the build-up to the invasion of Iraq. Sumption encouraged Campbell to make his private diaries available to the inquiry despite Tony Blair’s misgivings about the political embarrassment of their contents. His strategy was successful; Campbell and No 10 were cleared of “sexing up” the famous dossier. | Sumption is often described as the cleverest man in Britain. “Brain the size of a planet,” wrote Alastair Campbell in his diaries, with some relief, when he learned that Sumption was going to defend him in the Hutton inquiry that had been called to investigate the death of weapons expert David Kelly in 2003, essentially pitting the BBC against the government over the reporting of the build-up to the invasion of Iraq. Sumption encouraged Campbell to make his private diaries available to the inquiry despite Tony Blair’s misgivings about the political embarrassment of their contents. His strategy was successful; Campbell and No 10 were cleared of “sexing up” the famous dossier. |
| Among Sumption’s colleagues the consensus on his courtroom talents is broad and superlative: “amazing”, “brilliant”, “a frightening opponent”, “icy analytical instinct”, “titanic”. His career was conducted at the very highest levels. In 2005, he defended the Labour government and its transport minister Stephen Byers against the largest class action ever brought in the UK, over the dissolution of Railtrack. He advised the Bank of England on the BCCI debacle of the 1990s, an unbelievably complex morass of money laundering, fraud, regulatory avoidance and multinational lawsuits. He successfully argued in favour of the banks when the Office of Fair Trading tried to sue them over inflated overdraft charges. He earned what he described as “telephone number fees”. | Among Sumption’s colleagues the consensus on his courtroom talents is broad and superlative: “amazing”, “brilliant”, “a frightening opponent”, “icy analytical instinct”, “titanic”. His career was conducted at the very highest levels. In 2005, he defended the Labour government and its transport minister Stephen Byers against the largest class action ever brought in the UK, over the dissolution of Railtrack. He advised the Bank of England on the BCCI debacle of the 1990s, an unbelievably complex morass of money laundering, fraud, regulatory avoidance and multinational lawsuits. He successfully argued in favour of the banks when the Office of Fair Trading tried to sue them over inflated overdraft charges. He earned what he described as “telephone number fees”. |
| In 2012, Sumption was appointed to the supreme court, the highest court in the land, straight from the bar, without having served as a judge in lower courts – an exceptionally rare promotion. On the bench, Sumption is known as a conservative (small c), although he remains Delphic about his personal views. “‘I have a different philosophy every five minutes,” he told the BBC in 2010. The historian in him is constantly evaluating and revising. In an interview in 2001 he described himself as a Tory who voted Labour. “That is no longer true,” he told me, “but in which direction I have moved since 2001 I am not proposing to say.” | In 2012, Sumption was appointed to the supreme court, the highest court in the land, straight from the bar, without having served as a judge in lower courts – an exceptionally rare promotion. On the bench, Sumption is known as a conservative (small c), although he remains Delphic about his personal views. “‘I have a different philosophy every five minutes,” he told the BBC in 2010. The historian in him is constantly evaluating and revising. In an interview in 2001 he described himself as a Tory who voted Labour. “That is no longer true,” he told me, “but in which direction I have moved since 2001 I am not proposing to say.” |
| In his spare time, Sumption writes his books on the hundred years war, which are praised for their meticulous research and clarity by academics and readers alike. This August, Cursed Kings, the fourth volume, will be published. Finally, after several thousand pages we will get to Agincourt. (“I’m very big on Agincourt,” he told me, expressing his excitement at the 600th anniversary this October 25.) It is a sideline that would ordinarily constitute an entire career. | In his spare time, Sumption writes his books on the hundred years war, which are praised for their meticulous research and clarity by academics and readers alike. This August, Cursed Kings, the fourth volume, will be published. Finally, after several thousand pages we will get to Agincourt. (“I’m very big on Agincourt,” he told me, expressing his excitement at the 600th anniversary this October 25.) It is a sideline that would ordinarily constitute an entire career. |
| Sumption speaks French and Italian fluently. He reads Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Catalan and Latin but admits that his Greek is a bit rusty. Once a week he meets with a German philosophy student to improve his spoken German. He loves opera and is a director of the English National Opera and on the governing body of the Royal Academy of Music. | Sumption speaks French and Italian fluently. He reads Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Catalan and Latin but admits that his Greek is a bit rusty. Once a week he meets with a German philosophy student to improve his spoken German. He loves opera and is a director of the English National Opera and on the governing body of the Royal Academy of Music. |
| Sumption is a uniquely British object, almost a metonym for the establishment, one of the guardians of a system that has provided the most stable democracy in the world despite never being written into a constitution. He is important, but not quite powerful. His decisions are made in committee; he has no political authority; he eschews punditry (“I don’t want to stand on a pedestal and shout”). He is known to the great and the good, his judgments shepherd our jurisprudence, but he remains unrecognisable to the man on the street – despite his distinctive shock of white hair, which sticks out like that of a cartoon character who has plugged his fingers into an electrical socket. | Sumption is a uniquely British object, almost a metonym for the establishment, one of the guardians of a system that has provided the most stable democracy in the world despite never being written into a constitution. He is important, but not quite powerful. His decisions are made in committee; he has no political authority; he eschews punditry (“I don’t want to stand on a pedestal and shout”). He is known to the great and the good, his judgments shepherd our jurisprudence, but he remains unrecognisable to the man on the street – despite his distinctive shock of white hair, which sticks out like that of a cartoon character who has plugged his fingers into an electrical socket. |
| In person, Sumption can come across as shy, almost bashful. He has a way of hugging one shoulder up to his ear as if trying to protect himself. “He takes a while to get comfortable with people,” one colleague told me. A couple of people used the words “lone wolf” when describing him. | In person, Sumption can come across as shy, almost bashful. He has a way of hugging one shoulder up to his ear as if trying to protect himself. “He takes a while to get comfortable with people,” one colleague told me. A couple of people used the words “lone wolf” when describing him. |
| He is self-effacing and slightly eccentric. The first time I met him, in his office at the supreme court, Sumption was wearing a purple striped shirt and his suit trousers were held up with braces embroidered with elephants. Add a few gentlemanly traits to the list: amiable, solicitous, polite. | He is self-effacing and slightly eccentric. The first time I met him, in his office at the supreme court, Sumption was wearing a purple striped shirt and his suit trousers were held up with braces embroidered with elephants. Add a few gentlemanly traits to the list: amiable, solicitous, polite. |
| “Would you like a cup of tea?” he asked me. “Builders’ all right?” | “Would you like a cup of tea?” he asked me. “Builders’ all right?” |
| Sumption grew up in St John’s Wood, the eldest child of four. His father was a solicitor, then a banker, although he went bust when Sumption was 18 and eventually ended up as a barrister. Sumption went to Eton. He remembers very clearly an epiphany when he was 15 years old, standing at a crossroads in the middle of the school. | Sumption grew up in St John’s Wood, the eldest child of four. His father was a solicitor, then a banker, although he went bust when Sumption was 18 and eventually ended up as a barrister. Sumption went to Eton. He remembers very clearly an epiphany when he was 15 years old, standing at a crossroads in the middle of the school. |
| “I wanted to be noticed for something other than being bottom of the class. One way of doing this would have been to be a great sportsman but I concluded that this was not obtainable.” | “I wanted to be noticed for something other than being bottom of the class. One way of doing this would have been to be a great sportsman but I concluded that this was not obtainable.” |
| “So how did you get to the top of the class?” | “So how did you get to the top of the class?” |
| “I worked hard.” Sumption shrugged. In a later conversation, he said: “I like working. It is more interesting than being idle.” | “I worked hard.” Sumption shrugged. In a later conversation, he said: “I like working. It is more interesting than being idle.” |
| After Eton, he went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied medieval history because, he said, it was the only period he knew nothing about. He got a first. On graduation he was offered a fellowship at the college and married his childhood sweetheart, Theresa Whelan (“We met at my birthday party when I was six years old – our children are perfectly horrified by this story!” he told me.) He was a fellow for four years; his first book, Pilgrimage, a broad survey of religious journeying from early Christianity to the 15th century, was published in 1975. | After Eton, he went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied medieval history because, he said, it was the only period he knew nothing about. He got a first. On graduation he was offered a fellowship at the college and married his childhood sweetheart, Theresa Whelan (“We met at my birthday party when I was six years old – our children are perfectly horrified by this story!” he told me.) He was a fellow for four years; his first book, Pilgrimage, a broad survey of religious journeying from early Christianity to the 15th century, was published in 1975. |
| Sumption says he left Oxford in part because the academic salary was low, in part because he “was not that good at inspiring people who didn’t want to be inspired. Nobody really likes doing things that they’re conscious that they’re not good at.” (In his 40s Sumption took up the piano, having given it up in his teens, and tortured his family by practising every day until he finally realised he wasn’t ever going to be as good as he wanted to be.) | Sumption says he left Oxford in part because the academic salary was low, in part because he “was not that good at inspiring people who didn’t want to be inspired. Nobody really likes doing things that they’re conscious that they’re not good at.” (In his 40s Sumption took up the piano, having given it up in his teens, and tortured his family by practising every day until he finally realised he wasn’t ever going to be as good as he wanted to be.) |
| He decided to switch to law. | He decided to switch to law. |
| * * * | * * * |
| The barristers’ chambers clustered around Lincoln’s Inns Fields and the high court in London describe the same social topography as public schools and Oxford colleges. Courtyards, stone staircases, gothic windows overlooking manicured lawns, wrought iron gates that are closed at night. Chambers have evolved over centuries into a hybrid mix of guild, cooperative and gentleman’s club. Barristers are technically self-employed; their clerks are responsible for mediating with clients. The relationship between the two, Sumption told me, remains much like that between a sergeant and junior officer. | The barristers’ chambers clustered around Lincoln’s Inns Fields and the high court in London describe the same social topography as public schools and Oxford colleges. Courtyards, stone staircases, gothic windows overlooking manicured lawns, wrought iron gates that are closed at night. Chambers have evolved over centuries into a hybrid mix of guild, cooperative and gentleman’s club. Barristers are technically self-employed; their clerks are responsible for mediating with clients. The relationship between the two, Sumption told me, remains much like that between a sergeant and junior officer. |
| In a system of one-to-one patronage that would have been familiar to Sumption after having been through the tutorial system at Oxford, aspiring barristers are taken on as “pupils” for a 12-month period of training at a chambers, where they are supervised by a more senior barrister. It is a world that is bound, like British common law, to tradition, to convention, to a certain understanding of the way things are done. For example: barristers should, but are not obliged to, and do not always, take cases on the basis of the “cab rank system”, according to their availability rather than personal preference; QC, (Queen’s counsel) is a title conferred by a committee of peers that carries distinction, but doesn’t refer to any difference of qualification. In the 1970s, when Sumption arrived, the bar was a bastion of the old boys’ network. It is better today. But not much. | In a system of one-to-one patronage that would have been familiar to Sumption after having been through the tutorial system at Oxford, aspiring barristers are taken on as “pupils” for a 12-month period of training at a chambers, where they are supervised by a more senior barrister. It is a world that is bound, like British common law, to tradition, to convention, to a certain understanding of the way things are done. For example: barristers should, but are not obliged to, and do not always, take cases on the basis of the “cab rank system”, according to their availability rather than personal preference; QC, (Queen’s counsel) is a title conferred by a committee of peers that carries distinction, but doesn’t refer to any difference of qualification. In the 1970s, when Sumption arrived, the bar was a bastion of the old boys’ network. It is better today. But not much. |
| Through his father’s “string-pulling”, Sumption found pupillages at two leading chambers, but neither took him on afterwards. He finally found a home at Brick Court, a commercial law chambers that had risen to prominence under the reign of its head clerk, “‘the formidable Mr Burley”, as Sumption called him, who had been there since 1948. “He was small and tense and wound up,” Sumption remembered fondly. “He had an absolute determination that his horses were going to win. None of this rubbish about playing the game. No, you’ve got to win!” | Through his father’s “string-pulling”, Sumption found pupillages at two leading chambers, but neither took him on afterwards. He finally found a home at Brick Court, a commercial law chambers that had risen to prominence under the reign of its head clerk, “‘the formidable Mr Burley”, as Sumption called him, who had been there since 1948. “He was small and tense and wound up,” Sumption remembered fondly. “He had an absolute determination that his horses were going to win. None of this rubbish about playing the game. No, you’ve got to win!” |
| A pencil portrait of Mr Burley, stern and bald, still hangs in a hallway at Brick Court chambers. The current head clerk, Ian Moyler, told me a story about how Burley had despaired of the young Sumption’s sloppy appearance when he had first started practising law. In particular, he had taken umbrage with a ratty old raincoat that Sumption insisted on wearing and one day he chopped it up with a pair of scissors. (In Sumption’s memory of the incident, the raincoat was burned.) | A pencil portrait of Mr Burley, stern and bald, still hangs in a hallway at Brick Court chambers. The current head clerk, Ian Moyler, told me a story about how Burley had despaired of the young Sumption’s sloppy appearance when he had first started practising law. In particular, he had taken umbrage with a ratty old raincoat that Sumption insisted on wearing and one day he chopped it up with a pair of scissors. (In Sumption’s memory of the incident, the raincoat was burned.) |
| Sumption began his career “as a bog-standard shipping lawyer. Shipping and insurance. Cargo claims and so on. I gradually moved out of that. I began to find it a bit dull.” It took a while for him to hone his voice as an advocate. “Sometimes at the beginning of his career, he ran the risk of losing a judge by being, some would say, over-cerebral,” remembered his contemporary, Gordon Pollock QC, who is one of the few barristers with a professional reputation equal to Sumption’s. | Sumption began his career “as a bog-standard shipping lawyer. Shipping and insurance. Cargo claims and so on. I gradually moved out of that. I began to find it a bit dull.” It took a while for him to hone his voice as an advocate. “Sometimes at the beginning of his career, he ran the risk of losing a judge by being, some would say, over-cerebral,” remembered his contemporary, Gordon Pollock QC, who is one of the few barristers with a professional reputation equal to Sumption’s. |
| Sumption still talks volubly, and fast. His sentences contain subclauses for qualification and supporting examples, almost as if he is providing footnotes as he goes along. One of his juniors at Brick Court, Tom Adam QC, remembered watching Sumption extemporise a reply to an argument in a case before an appeals court. Sumption had a plane to catch and one eye on his watch. “He was like a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song. The sheer speed!” | Sumption still talks volubly, and fast. His sentences contain subclauses for qualification and supporting examples, almost as if he is providing footnotes as he goes along. One of his juniors at Brick Court, Tom Adam QC, remembered watching Sumption extemporise a reply to an argument in a case before an appeals court. Sumption had a plane to catch and one eye on his watch. “He was like a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song. The sheer speed!” |
| Afterwards, Adam’s counterpart on the opposing side admitted he had been dreading going through the transcript because he had remembered it being so crushing, but when he came to analyse it, he realised Sumption’s argument was not so unassailable after all. Adam laughed a little as he told me: “Jonathan just swept you along on a brimming tide of logic and reason and persuasion. When he was speaking it was just irresistible.” | Afterwards, Adam’s counterpart on the opposing side admitted he had been dreading going through the transcript because he had remembered it being so crushing, but when he came to analyse it, he realised Sumption’s argument was not so unassailable after all. Adam laughed a little as he told me: “Jonathan just swept you along on a brimming tide of logic and reason and persuasion. When he was speaking it was just irresistible.” |
| Sumption describes his career with dollops of self-deprecation. Perhaps it is just a habit of politesse, a method of socially navigating being the cleverest man in the room; I had the sense that he also uses it as a defence mechanism, a way of keeping his guard up. “The bar is very meritocratic, in the sense that you can’t get places without talent,” he told me. “But talent isn’t enough, you need lavish doses of luck.” | Sumption describes his career with dollops of self-deprecation. Perhaps it is just a habit of politesse, a method of socially navigating being the cleverest man in the room; I had the sense that he also uses it as a defence mechanism, a way of keeping his guard up. “The bar is very meritocratic, in the sense that you can’t get places without talent,” he told me. “But talent isn’t enough, you need lavish doses of luck.” |
| He was “lucky” to be adopted early on by one of the leading advocates of the day, Bob Alexander, who everyone wanted “for the biggest and sexiest cases”. He was lucky too, he said, to be the only barrister in the office late one night when a call came from a corporate client who needed an urgent injunction. At the time he did not know anything about mergers and acquisitions. “I discussed the matter with the solicitors in a tone of voice which suggested far greater self-confidence on the subject than I actually felt,” Sumption recalled. He boned up overnight. He won the case. “Thereafter, for some time, I was regarded as Mr Takeover.” Mr Takeover was increasingly successful. By the turn of the century, Sumption was in the small cadre of barristers earning more than £1m a year. | He was “lucky” to be adopted early on by one of the leading advocates of the day, Bob Alexander, who everyone wanted “for the biggest and sexiest cases”. He was lucky too, he said, to be the only barrister in the office late one night when a call came from a corporate client who needed an urgent injunction. At the time he did not know anything about mergers and acquisitions. “I discussed the matter with the solicitors in a tone of voice which suggested far greater self-confidence on the subject than I actually felt,” Sumption recalled. He boned up overnight. He won the case. “Thereafter, for some time, I was regarded as Mr Takeover.” Mr Takeover was increasingly successful. By the turn of the century, Sumption was in the small cadre of barristers earning more than £1m a year. |
| Sumption believes that the most important part of preparation as a barrister is not working on your own argument, but thinking about the case that could be made against it. Tom Adam used to have the office next to Sumption and said that he missed the day-to-day repartee. He told a story about the time Sumption brought in a Star Wars stormtrooper’s helmet and said: “Obviously this is a sculpture.” Sumption was representing George Lucas’s company against the man who had originally cast the stormtrooper helmets for the movie; the case was a copyright issue. “For half an hour we wrestled with the question of whether a stormtrooper’s helmet could be considered a sculpture and therefore a unique piece of art and not copyrighted.” Adam finally threw up his hands and said: “OK you may have defeated me in the argument, but I still say no way that’s a sculpture.” (The supreme court agreed with him; Sumption lost the case.) | Sumption believes that the most important part of preparation as a barrister is not working on your own argument, but thinking about the case that could be made against it. Tom Adam used to have the office next to Sumption and said that he missed the day-to-day repartee. He told a story about the time Sumption brought in a Star Wars stormtrooper’s helmet and said: “Obviously this is a sculpture.” Sumption was representing George Lucas’s company against the man who had originally cast the stormtrooper helmets for the movie; the case was a copyright issue. “For half an hour we wrestled with the question of whether a stormtrooper’s helmet could be considered a sculpture and therefore a unique piece of art and not copyrighted.” Adam finally threw up his hands and said: “OK you may have defeated me in the argument, but I still say no way that’s a sculpture.” (The supreme court agreed with him; Sumption lost the case.) |
| Sumption became a kind of modern-day champion knight – or assassin, depending on which side you were on – picked to fight only the most challenging battles, brought in to find a new argument after a case had already been tried through successive appellate courts. Or, as Sumption put it in his understated way, “I was simply a hired mouth. I took cases about absolutely everything.” | Sumption became a kind of modern-day champion knight – or assassin, depending on which side you were on – picked to fight only the most challenging battles, brought in to find a new argument after a case had already been tried through successive appellate courts. Or, as Sumption put it in his understated way, “I was simply a hired mouth. I took cases about absolutely everything.” |
| * * * | * * * |
| From top barrister, the next step is often to become a judge. For a long time, Sumption avoided the transition. He was a part-time appeal court judge in the Channel Islands, he sat on the Judicial Appointments Commission, but he had always recused himself from a full-time appointment to the bench. “First instance judges spend a lot of time hearing ... routine cases,” he explained. Colleagues were not surprised, it was hard to imagine Sumption finding the day-to-day caseload of lower appellate courts intellectually challenging enough. | From top barrister, the next step is often to become a judge. For a long time, Sumption avoided the transition. He was a part-time appeal court judge in the Channel Islands, he sat on the Judicial Appointments Commission, but he had always recused himself from a full-time appointment to the bench. “First instance judges spend a lot of time hearing ... routine cases,” he explained. Colleagues were not surprised, it was hard to imagine Sumption finding the day-to-day caseload of lower appellate courts intellectually challenging enough. |
| In the old days, the lord chancellor took informal soundings and tapped someone on the shoulder to be elevated to the law lords. When the supreme court began operating in 2009, a new application procedure was introduced that seemed to encourage the candidature of non-judges. Sumption told me, in a somewhat circumspect manner: “I had a broad hint that an application would not come amiss.” He put his name forward in 2009 and was privately informed that he had been accepted. But the idea of a barrister leapfrogging over the lower benches to land in such a lofty position caused such howls of outrage from appellate judges that the offer had to be rescinded. | In the old days, the lord chancellor took informal soundings and tapped someone on the shoulder to be elevated to the law lords. When the supreme court began operating in 2009, a new application procedure was introduced that seemed to encourage the candidature of non-judges. Sumption told me, in a somewhat circumspect manner: “I had a broad hint that an application would not come amiss.” He put his name forward in 2009 and was privately informed that he had been accepted. But the idea of a barrister leapfrogging over the lower benches to land in such a lofty position caused such howls of outrage from appellate judges that the offer had to be rescinded. |
| Behind the scenes it was a confusion of rumours, horse-trading, threats and conflicts of interest. The new rules had not yet come into effect; the appointments commission was technically ad hoc; the lord chancellor, Jack Straw, had wanted to distance himself from the appointments but found himself dragged into the fray. In the legal blogosphere there were accusations of old boys’ networks and skulduggery. Finally it was decided to start a new appointments process. This time, humiliatingly, Sumption did not even make the shortlist. | Behind the scenes it was a confusion of rumours, horse-trading, threats and conflicts of interest. The new rules had not yet come into effect; the appointments commission was technically ad hoc; the lord chancellor, Jack Straw, had wanted to distance himself from the appointments but found himself dragged into the fray. In the legal blogosphere there were accusations of old boys’ networks and skulduggery. Finally it was decided to start a new appointments process. This time, humiliatingly, Sumption did not even make the shortlist. |
| Despite the changes to the application process, in practice very few candidates apply and very few people are on the selection committee. Lord Phillips, Sumption’s former pupil master at Brick Court and president of the supreme court was one of them (as he had been in 2009) when Sumption threw his hat into the ring for the third time in 2011. | Despite the changes to the application process, in practice very few candidates apply and very few people are on the selection committee. Lord Phillips, Sumption’s former pupil master at Brick Court and president of the supreme court was one of them (as he had been in 2009) when Sumption threw his hat into the ring for the third time in 2011. |
| Lord Phillips and Sumption were terse when I asked them about his ultimate appointment. | Lord Phillips and Sumption were terse when I asked them about his ultimate appointment. |
| “He got himself onto the supreme court by applying and passing through the system,” Lord Phillips told me. | “He got himself onto the supreme court by applying and passing through the system,” Lord Phillips told me. |
| “I got the impression that the policy [of allowing only judges to apply] might have changed,” said Sumption. | “I got the impression that the policy [of allowing only judges to apply] might have changed,” said Sumption. |
| “What changed, do you think?” I asked him. | “What changed, do you think?” I asked him. |
| “I don’t know.” | “I don’t know.” |
| It was a messy backroom affair that belied the transparency that the new rules were supposed to introduce. When I asked Sumption if there was an “establishment”, he bristled a little and fell back to the skirmish line of semantics. “It depends what you mean by the establishment.” The supreme court has 12 judges. Ten are privately educated; 11 are white men. For Sumption this is lamentable, but the way of things. The law is a rigorous profession that is bound to produce an elite at its summit. “Any group of the most talented people of their generation is going to be unrepresentative.” | It was a messy backroom affair that belied the transparency that the new rules were supposed to introduce. When I asked Sumption if there was an “establishment”, he bristled a little and fell back to the skirmish line of semantics. “It depends what you mean by the establishment.” The supreme court has 12 judges. Ten are privately educated; 11 are white men. For Sumption this is lamentable, but the way of things. The law is a rigorous profession that is bound to produce an elite at its summit. “Any group of the most talented people of their generation is going to be unrepresentative.” |
| * * * | * * * |
| As a supreme court judge, Sumption was given a courtesy title of lord. It’s a bit of pro forma left over from the days when the law lords convened in the House of Lords. After the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, they were renamed the supreme court and moved to a new home on Parliament Square in 2009. The new location represents the first time that Britain has actually separated, by statute, rather than convention, its judiciary from its legislature. | As a supreme court judge, Sumption was given a courtesy title of lord. It’s a bit of pro forma left over from the days when the law lords convened in the House of Lords. After the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, they were renamed the supreme court and moved to a new home on Parliament Square in 2009. The new location represents the first time that Britain has actually separated, by statute, rather than convention, its judiciary from its legislature. |
| Understanding the court’s jurisdictions and functions is not easy. Even judges tied themselves into knots trying to explain it to me. When I asked Sumption to explain the relationship between the UK supreme court and the European court of justice in Luxembourg and the European court of human rights in Strasbourg – a subject that particularly exercises Eurosceptics, who believe that European courts eat away at British sovereignty – he gave a long, intricate answer that looped around procedure and the legal applicability of international treaties. | Understanding the court’s jurisdictions and functions is not easy. Even judges tied themselves into knots trying to explain it to me. When I asked Sumption to explain the relationship between the UK supreme court and the European court of justice in Luxembourg and the European court of human rights in Strasbourg – a subject that particularly exercises Eurosceptics, who believe that European courts eat away at British sovereignty – he gave a long, intricate answer that looped around procedure and the legal applicability of international treaties. |
| “We’ve just spent half an hour talking about this and it’s quite convoluted,” I eventually said. | “We’ve just spent half an hour talking about this and it’s quite convoluted,” I eventually said. |
| “It is,” Sumption agreed. “The public is entitled to be confused. It is confusing.” | “It is,” Sumption agreed. “The public is entitled to be confused. It is confusing.” |
| One afternoon in March, I sat in on a hearing. It was for the case of HM Customs v Pendragon and concerned a complex confluence of possibly unpaid VAT and the Channel Islands. I found the hearing room and sat at the back. A class of Korean schoolchildren filed in and sat down on the public benches behind me and were shushed by their teachers. | One afternoon in March, I sat in on a hearing. It was for the case of HM Customs v Pendragon and concerned a complex confluence of possibly unpaid VAT and the Channel Islands. I found the hearing room and sat at the back. A class of Korean schoolchildren filed in and sat down on the public benches behind me and were shushed by their teachers. |
| The lawyer for HM Customs went over the points of his case: “paragraph 34, page 2097 ... articulates as to the intention ... paragraph 82 of our printed case …” After several minutes of this, the Korean schoolchildren noisily shuffled out. Sumption asked one or two questions and then he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. He yawned. He closed his eyes for a few moments and then opened them again. I asked a lawyer sitting next to me, who was observing the proceedings, what was happening. He gave me a sheaf of documents as explanation. Presently, he fell asleep. | The lawyer for HM Customs went over the points of his case: “paragraph 34, page 2097 ... articulates as to the intention ... paragraph 82 of our printed case …” After several minutes of this, the Korean schoolchildren noisily shuffled out. Sumption asked one or two questions and then he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. He yawned. He closed his eyes for a few moments and then opened them again. I asked a lawyer sitting next to me, who was observing the proceedings, what was happening. He gave me a sheaf of documents as explanation. Presently, he fell asleep. |
| Afterwards Sumption apologised that it had been rather tedious: “And I’ve got a whole day of it tomorrow!” He perused the docket trying to find me a more interesting upcoming hearing but conceded, “it’s a rather boring term”. Glancing at a case about the distribution of EU funds, he said, “it’s constitutionally very important but there’s a huge yawn factor; it’s got zero sex appeal.” | Afterwards Sumption apologised that it had been rather tedious: “And I’ve got a whole day of it tomorrow!” He perused the docket trying to find me a more interesting upcoming hearing but conceded, “it’s a rather boring term”. Glancing at a case about the distribution of EU funds, he said, “it’s constitutionally very important but there’s a huge yawn factor; it’s got zero sex appeal.” |
| Supreme court cases are often like this – their outcome has big political implications but they are argued on technicalities. “A good example is [the publication of] Prince Charles’s letters,” explained Sumption. “The public thinks the case is about whether Prince Charles ought to be exposed; actually it’s a case about whether the government has the right to veto the decision of a tribunal.” In this way, said Sumption, “a lot of important constitutional changes happen by accident, because the judges are looking at the law on a fairly technical level. The public is looking at the outcome.” | Supreme court cases are often like this – their outcome has big political implications but they are argued on technicalities. “A good example is [the publication of] Prince Charles’s letters,” explained Sumption. “The public thinks the case is about whether Prince Charles ought to be exposed; actually it’s a case about whether the government has the right to veto the decision of a tribunal.” In this way, said Sumption, “a lot of important constitutional changes happen by accident, because the judges are looking at the law on a fairly technical level. The public is looking at the outcome.” |
| Since his appointment, Sumption has proved himself one of the court’s heavyweights. “He is widely considered to be one of the court’s intellectual leaders,” professor Alan Paterson, author of Final Judgment: The Last Law Lords and the Supreme Court, and a long time analyst of the court, told me. | Since his appointment, Sumption has proved himself one of the court’s heavyweights. “He is widely considered to be one of the court’s intellectual leaders,” professor Alan Paterson, author of Final Judgment: The Last Law Lords and the Supreme Court, and a long time analyst of the court, told me. |
| In the US, supreme court judges are political appointments grilled by Congress in an open nomination process. There have been calls for a more transparent system in Britain, but the justices have tended to circle the wagons, citing privacy, independence, impartiality. Sumption is critical of the hoopla that surrounds the US court. He pointed out that Antonin Scalia, the longest serving US supreme court justice, “cannot really be a very adaptable judge because he has often committed himself in speeches and books.” By contrast, Sumption felt free to judge without having to adhere to any fixed position or constituency. | In the US, supreme court judges are political appointments grilled by Congress in an open nomination process. There have been calls for a more transparent system in Britain, but the justices have tended to circle the wagons, citing privacy, independence, impartiality. Sumption is critical of the hoopla that surrounds the US court. He pointed out that Antonin Scalia, the longest serving US supreme court justice, “cannot really be a very adaptable judge because he has often committed himself in speeches and books.” By contrast, Sumption felt free to judge without having to adhere to any fixed position or constituency. |
| It is certainly not easy to trace a clear line of opinion through Sumption’s judgments. “I don’t have a judicial ideology,” he told me. In his first year he authored three dissenting judgments. In one case he supported the idea that accountants should be given the same professional privileges of confidentiality in court as lawyers. In another case, in 2012, Sumption was the only supreme court judge who argued that a banker at Société Générale in London was not legally entitled to a bonus, even though his employer had fired him without proper notice a month before the bonus was due. | It is certainly not easy to trace a clear line of opinion through Sumption’s judgments. “I don’t have a judicial ideology,” he told me. In his first year he authored three dissenting judgments. In one case he supported the idea that accountants should be given the same professional privileges of confidentiality in court as lawyers. In another case, in 2012, Sumption was the only supreme court judge who argued that a banker at Société Générale in London was not legally entitled to a bonus, even though his employer had fired him without proper notice a month before the bonus was due. |
| Sumption is not comfortable with the idea of what he calls “judge-made law” and believes controversial issues, such as the right to die and abortion, should be decided by parliament. On these grounds he has been publicly critical of the mission creep of the human rights court in Strasbourg. For Sumption, and the Conservative party, Strasbourg’s rulings – like the one giving prisoners the right to vote – can undermine the basic principle of parliamentary democracy. | Sumption is not comfortable with the idea of what he calls “judge-made law” and believes controversial issues, such as the right to die and abortion, should be decided by parliament. On these grounds he has been publicly critical of the mission creep of the human rights court in Strasbourg. For Sumption, and the Conservative party, Strasbourg’s rulings – like the one giving prisoners the right to vote – can undermine the basic principle of parliamentary democracy. |
| Sumption is one of the guardians of a distinctly British system that is held together less with codified rules than by an ethos. When we spoke, he referred to the steadfast gatekeeping of civil servants, who underpin the system. I suspect the justices of the supreme court view themselves in the same way, technocrats above the fray of politics. “There’s no code that tells you what to do,” says Sumption. “This is the way that public service works, it’s the way that it has always worked. There’s a sense of carrying on and a tradition.” He cautioned, “It’s a fragile political culture. If we ever lost it, we would find it very difficult to recreate.” | Sumption is one of the guardians of a distinctly British system that is held together less with codified rules than by an ethos. When we spoke, he referred to the steadfast gatekeeping of civil servants, who underpin the system. I suspect the justices of the supreme court view themselves in the same way, technocrats above the fray of politics. “There’s no code that tells you what to do,” says Sumption. “This is the way that public service works, it’s the way that it has always worked. There’s a sense of carrying on and a tradition.” He cautioned, “It’s a fragile political culture. If we ever lost it, we would find it very difficult to recreate.” |
| * * * | * * * |
| This year is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. In March I went to listen to Sumption give a talk on it at the British Library. He began disarmingly: “It is impossible to say anything new about Magna Carta, unless you say something mad.” He then proceeded to dissect the reverential commentary that has grown up around the document. He dispelled the myth of Magna Carta as the original foundation of democracy. It was, he argued – cogently, indisputably – a treaty bound by its own context and the tenets of feudal law. | This year is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. In March I went to listen to Sumption give a talk on it at the British Library. He began disarmingly: “It is impossible to say anything new about Magna Carta, unless you say something mad.” He then proceeded to dissect the reverential commentary that has grown up around the document. He dispelled the myth of Magna Carta as the original foundation of democracy. It was, he argued – cogently, indisputably – a treaty bound by its own context and the tenets of feudal law. |
| When Sumption had finished, no one in the audience could think of a question. After an abashed pause, one man put his hand up and gingerly asked what Sumption, having rubbished the idea of Magna Carta as a document of proto-democracy, thought of the British Library’s new exhibition lauding it as a document of proto-democracy? Sumption demurred politely. | When Sumption had finished, no one in the audience could think of a question. After an abashed pause, one man put his hand up and gingerly asked what Sumption, having rubbished the idea of Magna Carta as a document of proto-democracy, thought of the British Library’s new exhibition lauding it as a document of proto-democracy? Sumption demurred politely. |
| Sumption’s history of the hundred years war reflects this preference for detail and analysis over grand, romantic narratives. Reviewers, impressed by the weight of research and writing, have been fulsome. “One of the great historical works of our time,” wrote Allan Massie in the Daily Telegraph of Volume III, Divided Houses, which runs to more than 1,000 pages. The elaborate complexities of financing war fleets in the 14th century, of papal diplomacy, the deliberations of dithering monarchs, battle formations, the minutiae of social upheavals revealed in ancient parish records, are pepper in Sumption’s mortar. The overall impression is one of relentless violence – towns are sacked, peasants massacred, whole regions depopulated by decades of marauding bands and plague outbreaks. | |
| Over the months I spent ploughing my way through the first three volumes, I began to realise that Sumption is a man who cannot stop thinking. While he was still a pupil, working on a brief involving a sugar company, Sumption found time to write his second book on the Albigensian crusade. “Because I was bored with sugar really. It was a six-month arbitration.” At one point in the early 1980s, he embarked on writing a three-volume history of the Spanish crusades. To do this he determined he would need to learn Arabic and Hebrew in order to read the original sources. For some months, after a full day at chambers, he spent every evening studying from 6pm until 11pm in the library of the School of African and Oriental Studies. His wife complained; after a while he had to stop. “It was a seriously unmarital activity.” | Over the months I spent ploughing my way through the first three volumes, I began to realise that Sumption is a man who cannot stop thinking. While he was still a pupil, working on a brief involving a sugar company, Sumption found time to write his second book on the Albigensian crusade. “Because I was bored with sugar really. It was a six-month arbitration.” At one point in the early 1980s, he embarked on writing a three-volume history of the Spanish crusades. To do this he determined he would need to learn Arabic and Hebrew in order to read the original sources. For some months, after a full day at chambers, he spent every evening studying from 6pm until 11pm in the library of the School of African and Oriental Studies. His wife complained; after a while he had to stop. “It was a seriously unmarital activity.” |
| Just after Easter I took the train from Paris to the Dordogne to visit Sumption at his second home, a chateau in the village of Berbiguières. I was halfway through the third volume. The war had spilled over into Spain. Sumption picked me up from the station in an ancient Volvo with a faulty fuel gauge. (He has only ever owned one mobile phone, an iPhone 3. “It works perfectly well. I can’t see any reason to replace it.”) | Just after Easter I took the train from Paris to the Dordogne to visit Sumption at his second home, a chateau in the village of Berbiguières. I was halfway through the third volume. The war had spilled over into Spain. Sumption picked me up from the station in an ancient Volvo with a faulty fuel gauge. (He has only ever owned one mobile phone, an iPhone 3. “It works perfectly well. I can’t see any reason to replace it.”) |
| The chateau was glorious in the first blaze of spring sunshine, honey-coloured stone, towers and turrets and ramparts, a grassy courtyard with a view of oak woods and green fields. The Sumptions bought the chateau 25 years ago. It had no running water or electricity; the roof and every window had to be replaced. The kitchen hall, where the medieval soldiers who once garrisoned the chateau would have gathered, is dominated by a huge wide-mouthed fireplace. | The chateau was glorious in the first blaze of spring sunshine, honey-coloured stone, towers and turrets and ramparts, a grassy courtyard with a view of oak woods and green fields. The Sumptions bought the chateau 25 years ago. It had no running water or electricity; the roof and every window had to be replaced. The kitchen hall, where the medieval soldiers who once garrisoned the chateau would have gathered, is dominated by a huge wide-mouthed fireplace. |
| His wife Theresa was wearing wellies and had spent the morning clearing out bat droppings from the attic. She apologised for the cold. “It’s impossible to heat this place really,” said Sumption, “the walls are six feet thick.” Photographs from their son’s wedding were tacked up on the fridge (they also have two daughters) next to a notice for a symposium on Routiers and Mercenaries of Aquitaine that Sumption had hosted a couple of years ago and posters for several operas. Most summers the Sumptions stage operas in the courtyard. | His wife Theresa was wearing wellies and had spent the morning clearing out bat droppings from the attic. She apologised for the cold. “It’s impossible to heat this place really,” said Sumption, “the walls are six feet thick.” Photographs from their son’s wedding were tacked up on the fridge (they also have two daughters) next to a notice for a symposium on Routiers and Mercenaries of Aquitaine that Sumption had hosted a couple of years ago and posters for several operas. Most summers the Sumptions stage operas in the courtyard. |
| In the afternoon Sumption went to his study and worked on a short biography of Edward III that he is writing for the Penguin series on British monarchs. Books that he has written were opened on the desk for reference. | In the afternoon Sumption went to his study and worked on a short biography of Edward III that he is writing for the Penguin series on British monarchs. Books that he has written were opened on the desk for reference. |
| Sumption works because he likes to work, because he feels a certain guilt if he does not work. “It’s the puritan in me,” he told me that evening, a glass of wine in hand. He knows his work ethic is a bit ridiculous, but he cannot help it and at the same time he seems rather pleased that he cannot help it. | Sumption works because he likes to work, because he feels a certain guilt if he does not work. “It’s the puritan in me,” he told me that evening, a glass of wine in hand. He knows his work ethic is a bit ridiculous, but he cannot help it and at the same time he seems rather pleased that he cannot help it. |
| Supreme court judges are obliged to retire at 70, so what next? | Supreme court judges are obliged to retire at 70, so what next? |
| “I live in fear of finishing with the hundred years war, and it being too late to start something else.” | “I live in fear of finishing with the hundred years war, and it being too late to start something else.” |
| “What else would you want to write about?” I asked. | “What else would you want to write about?” I asked. |
| He considered his options. “I’ve noticed there’s no good history of the Dreyfus case. It would be a difficult undertaking, potentially controversial, and it would mean jumping forward 500 years …” | He considered his options. “I’ve noticed there’s no good history of the Dreyfus case. It would be a difficult undertaking, potentially controversial, and it would mean jumping forward 500 years …” |
| That night, I slept very well in my tower room. When I went down to the kitchen at about nine the next morning, I found Sumption already at his desk. When did he begin working? “Oh,” he said casually, “about 6.45.” | That night, I slept very well in my tower room. When I went down to the kitchen at about nine the next morning, I found Sumption already at his desk. When did he begin working? “Oh,” he said casually, “about 6.45.” |
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