Judge lived a life committed to the law

GOOD lawyers don’t look for popularity in the cases they take but even Kevin Feeney must have wondered how he got landed with one particular brief which looked like it could only put him in a lose-lose situation.

As barrister for the newspaper accused of libelling a district court judge lampooned for stopping proceedings to take a mobile phone call in the late 1990s, Feeney found himself facing down a claimant and witnesses he’d normally refer to as “his lordship”.

Lose the case and his client would be miffed, win and people in his professional circle might feel similarly. As it happened, the judge won the case but little of the hefty associated costs so everyone involved lost something.