As Kingston Law School celebrated its 50th anniversary, the UK’s top judge was there to join in on the festivities.
Students, staff, alumni as well as local judges all gathered last Thursday night to hear Lord Neuberger, one of the world’s most senior judges, talk on matters regarding today’s legal justice system.
The charismatic senior judge had asked students to choose questions for him to speak about beforehand so that “at least one of the people sitting here finds what I have to say interesting”.
Before he began answering questions he talked about his life lessons, saying that it might be a comfort for the younger people listening who had yet to figure out a career path.
He explained how he thought he had “wasted years” trying to be a scientist and then a banker, but that these experiences were useful and helped him later in his career.
“Working hard and being determined pays off,” he said, explaining that he worked hard as a lawyer, but that his determination was tested when he got rejected three times by the chambers.
He also expressed that luck is an important factor as you climb the career ladder and insisted that it played a very large part of his success.
He continued answering the questions given to him, but said that some of them would be inappropriate for him to answer since they regarded political issues.
“Judges should keep their noses out of politics and politicians should keep their noses out of judges areas,” he said.
The questions he could address, however, included matters of challenges and dilemmas facing the legal justice system.
Despite being a busy man he found the time to mingle, have a glass of wine and speak with some of the people who were eager to have a word with him after the speech before he had to rush off to another event.
