MJBQC: A Life Within and Without the Law

(Hardback)

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"Compelling, dazzling, breathless a vivid, fascinating account of a richly diverse life, full of interest, charm and wit." Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood Michael Beloff, previously QC, once described as the Bars Renaissance Man, has had a distinguished career as advocate, arbitrator, and judge. An outsider of mixed Russian Jewish heritage with four immigrant grandparents and immigrant mother, he had an insiders education as a scholar at Eton and Oxford, with a professional life culminating in his offices as President of Trinity, one of the most famous of the historic Oxford Colleges and Treasurer of Grays, one of the four mediaeval Inns of Court. In this candid story he reflects on the development of his vocation through its various staging posts from his childhood to his swan song as barrister after fifty years in practice, highlighting his most important cases, in particular those with a political dimension as well as a quintet of high profile libels. He uses his personal experience to illuminate the arts of both advocacy and judging to evaluate how the Bar and the law has reformed during his professional lifetime and to predict and assess the likelihood of future changes. Familiarly called the Godfather of Sports Law, he has had, both as Counsel and Panellist, involvement in some of the major sporting scandals of the age, and gives special insights into the areas where sport and law intersect doping, corruption, match fixing and transgender participation. On these issues as well on those born of his university experience such as the Oxford admissions system and freedom of speech on campus, he expresses views which, if sometimes unfashionable, are always honest. His portfolio roles have led to his encounters with many interesting people, from Blair to Bolt, from a two term-President of the USA to the then heir apparent to the throne of the UK (and now King), tales of which provide the icing on the cake of this intriguing memoir.

Reviews

The life of the leading silk Michael Beloff is crammed with big names and cases Beloff emerges as a genuinely likeable narrator, far removed from the stereotype of the pompous silk. -- Thomas Grant * The Times *
This is easily the most illuminating, perceptive and witty memoir to emerge in recent times. * The Commonwealth Lawyer *
His clients ranged from the Moors murderer Ian Brady, the Founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, Mohamed Al-Fayed, numerous foreign governments and UK government departments, to a stellar line up of athletes such as Sebastian Coe, John Conteh and Tessa Sanderson This is no dry as dust legal memoir his pages sparkle with humour his chapters on Life at the Bar and The Art of Advocacy are a must read for any aspiring barrister. -- Jonathan Aitken * The OEA Review *
Beloffs wit and personality shine through every page of this memoir. -- Joshua Rozenburg
The book gives an impression of a convivial and loyal friend this is an interesting biography of a leading member of the bar. -- David Pickup * The Law Society Gazette *
Michaels writing stye is superb, original and very funny the book serves as an excellent guide to legal developments this extraordinary man spans so much in this extraordinary period. -- John Bowers QC * Counsel *
A colourful, breakneck tour through Beloffs interactions with a huge number of leading sportspeople Highly recommended. -- Ed Warner (former chairman of UK Athletics) * Sport Inc *
The unparalleled breadth of Michaels practice within the Bar and his many roles without the Bar means that this book is not simply an informative and engaging description of the legal world between 1965 and 2022, but it also throws a fascinating light on many other aspects of life in the United Kingdom in that period. -- Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury (former President of the Supreme Court and Master of the Rolls)
The story of MJBQC is a fascinating one, in particular because ... it confirms what I was told when I was a pupil, that Michael Beloff is both of the establishment and against the establishment. -- Lord Justice Singh

Author Bio

The Hon. Michael Beloff KC is a barrister at Blackstone Chambers, a former President of Trinity College Oxford, Treasurer of Gray's Inn Senior Ordinary Appeal Judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey, and a former (and first) Chairman of the Administrative Law Bar Association. He is a Member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Chair of the International Cricket Council Code of Conduct Commission and Disputes Resolution Committee, and of the Ethics Commission of the International Ski Federation. He is a former Chair of the IAAF (now World Athletics) Ethics Commission and Dispute Resolution Tribunal, and a former member of the International Appeal Panel of the International Automobile Federation. He is Editor of Sweet and Maxwell's International Sports Law Review, Editor of Halsburys Laws on Sports Law , and former President of the British Association of Sport and Law. The third edition of his book Sports Law is in preparation. Michael Beloff QC is in the small pantheon of great civil barristers of the last half century The Times The law according to W.S. Gilberts Lord Chancellor is the true embodiment or everything thats excellent and, by common consent, Michael Beloff QC has been one of the prime exemplars of that excellence over the past fifty years The Spectator Michael Beloff KC is generally regarded as the legal giant of his generation. There are no historical or contemporary barristers who have come close to sitting at the top of the advocacy tree for so long and so successfully Times Literary Supplement