Several years ago the idea of a solicitor advocate being featured in a law report in The Times would have been unthinkable. But a recent case where this occurred has left no doubt that rights of audience at the highest courts are now out of the exclusive grip of the Bar.

The newspaper listed army officer-turned-solicitor advocate Tim Lawson-Cruttenden, of London firm Dawson Cornwell & Co, as the man in court for the respondent in an appeal presided over by the Master of the Rolls and Lords Justices Millett and Schiemann.

And at the end of the case there was no question that counsel could have achieved a better result than Lawson-Cruttenden. He won a decision which he claims overturns Green Book rules and directly conflicts with the leading authority on the area of law at the centre of the case. “And it took a solicitor to do it,” he said. “What I now wonder is how many other rules there are which are being adhered to could and which should also be overturned.”

Lawson-Cruttenden has grave doubts that the rulings, first of a County Court judge and later of the Court of Appeal, would have been achieved had he designated the courtroom role to a member of the Bar, rather than conduct the case himself with his recently acquired solicitor advocate status. “I honestly believe if I had instructed a junior member of the Bar in the case, they would probably have accepted the authorities I disputed,” he said.

He also believes the case would not have been concluded so rapidly had he not master-minded it personally. Use of counsel would, he claims, have slowed matters down.

The case’s signpost ruling strengthens the rights of those who face harassment from unwanted suitors, but who are not protected by laws intended to protect spouses from domestic violence.

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