Peter Smith J: Recusal application
31 Jul 07
Charles Flint QC and Tom Weisselberg (instructed by Addleshaw Goddard) appeared in the Court of Appeal to challenge the decision of Peter Smith J not to recuse himself from hearing a case in which a partner from Addleshaw Goddard was a party.
The application was based on the unprecedented circumstances in which the judge and the firm had recently been engaged in discussions as to whether the judge might join the firm as a consultant or partner on leaving the Bench. The firm rejected the judge's proposal, to which rejection the judge reacted by expressing animosity towards the firm. When asked to recuse himself on grounds of apparent bias, the Judge refused. On appeal, the Court of Appeal (the Master of the Rolls, the President of the Queens Bench Division and Buxton LJ) allowed the appeal holding that it was a clear case of apparent bias in which the judge should have recused himself.