The more one delves into the trial of Jeremy Forrest, the odder it gets
The Judge who so unreservedly condemned teacher Jeremy Forrest’s behaviour last week has himself been the subject of controversy in the past. Judge Michael Lawson QC (left) seems, for one thing, to be in favour of slave labour. Rebecca Edmonds was doing a criminal law pupillage at his chambers in Essex Street London some years back. The problem was that, um, there didn’t seem to be any payment forthcoming from the altruistic scion of perverts. So Becky sued him, perhaps fearing that the next step might involve living up his chimney, so to speak. Law Lords Bingham, Pill and Hale ruled that ‘at the end of the long procedure leading up to pupillage, it would be surprising if there were no intention for a contract at all…..on balance, pupils do provide consideration by agreeing to enter into a close, important and potentially very productive relationship. The object of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 was not, as we understand, to enlarge the categories of those entitled to be paid wages, but to ensure that those entitled to be paid wages are not paid at anything less than a specified minimum level.” Continue reading