Tomorrow, the country speaks. Let the chips fall where they may.
Whatever your party affiliation, you have lawyers to vote for in this election – in fact, we’ve found no fewer than 193 of them standing. In a quartet of seats (Birmingham Ladywood, Finchley & Golders Green, Newark and Tottenham) voters even have a choice between three lawyer candidates.
They are an eclectic bunch for sure. Jeffrey Archer’s former barrister Julian Malins KC (Reform, Salisbury) has got himself in trouble for his admiring comments about Vladimir Putin. Lamborghini-driving solicitor Akhmed Yakoob (Independent, Birmingham Ladywood) describes himself as one of Britain’s finest legal minds and has been caught joking about domestic violence during this campaign. There’s Trump-loving White & Case lawyer Mhairi Fraser (Conservative, Epsom & Ewell) and Daniel Ross (Communist Party, Bury South), a PI solicitor who thinks the Soviet Union was just super. There are partners, associates, in-housers and even a couple of law students, like the young Queen Mary postgrad, who glories in the name of Bastôn De’Medici-Jaguar (Green, Brent West).
If elected, what will any of these people do for law and justice in the United Kingdom? In the case of the backbenchers, not much, but all eyes will be on Labour’s Shabana Mahmood, who may well be the country’s first Muslim Lord Chancellor by this time next week. Labour has said precious little about legal aid in its manifesto, but last month Duncan Lewis Solicitors took current Justice Secretary Alex Chalk KC to court, arguing that he is in breach of his constitutional duty to make legal aid available because fees are now so low. If Labour wins, former professional indemnity barrister Mahmood will immediately inherit that headache.
Every constituency in the country where a lawyer is standing
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With a majority of only 981, the affable Chalk is predicted to lose his Cheltenham seat but has not disgraced himself as Lord Chancellor and would doubtless be welcomed back to his former chambers, 6KBW, with open arms. Other Conservative lawyers at risk include Sir Robert Buckland KC in Swindon South (majority 6,625), who already has a nice consultancy gig with Payne Hicks Beach to fall back on. John Lamont in Berwickshire (majority 5,418) has been out of law for 17 years, but might be eyeing a big Scottish firm such as old employer Brodies. And current City Minister Bim Afolami will surely be in high demand if he loses in Hitchen (majority 6,895); we can see a firm like Akin Gump or Vinson & Elkins seeking out his services.
Dominic Raab is standing down, of course, but it seems unlikely that he will reignite his fleeting career in law. Indeed, as one respondent to The Lawyer’s election poll opined: “Dom claiming he was a human rights lawyer due to a few weeks’ internship at Liberty as a Links trainee really put some backs up in the profession.”
Speaking of our election poll, it found that 18 per cent of you were hoping to book Friday off after a long night up watching the results. We’ll have a special podcast for when you wake up in the afternoon, and we’ll be keeping an eye on how all the lawyer hopefuls fare too – join us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Insta for updates.
Polls open in 24 hours and 13 minutes. See you on the other side.
Some declaration times to watch out for tomorrow
12.30am: Swindon South (Former Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland KC)
3am: Epsom & Ewell (White & Case associate Mhairi Fraser)
4am: Altringham & Sale West (Clifford Chance associate Oliver Carroll)
4.45am: Cardiff West (ex-A&O lawyer and Labour Party head of legal Alex Barros-Curtis)
6am: South Northamptonshire (Forsters associate Sarah Bool)
