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‘I told the Lord Chief Justice, then Lord Woolf, that the case was a farce’

‘I warned the Lord Chief Justice that I feared that the case had the capacity to damage the reputation of our legal system’

‘The liquidators pursued the claim for the length of time which they did in the belief, expectation or hope that the Bank would ultimately agree some form of compromise settlement in order to avoid the criticisms and embarrassment to which it would be exposed in a public trial’

‘Their [Deloitte & their lawyers] absence was tactical, calculated to make it the more difficult for me to express views critical of their conduct of the action’

‘It cannot be every day that this approach to litigation is adopted and it is not to be encouraged’

‘Any suggestion that the defendants incurred costs on an unreasonable scale will need to be tested against the background of litigation apparently conducted . . . by reference to standards which I did not recognise’

‘Mr Pollock’s sustained rudeness to his opponent was of an altogether different order. It was behaviour not in the usual tradition of the Bar and it was inappropriate and distracting’

ADVERSARIES

The liquidators who attracted the attack by Mr Justice Tomlinson:

Deloitte liquidators. Appointed as liquidators to BCCI in 1991. Team led by John Richards, who has handled BCCI for more than a decade. His colleagues included Ralph Preece, Christopher Morris and Steve Akers. Presided over a highly successful liquidation where 81 per cent of the collapsed bank’s funds were returned to its 6,500 UK depositors. Deloitte was paid $325 million in fees

The liquidators’ lawyers who were criticised by Mr Justice Tomlinson:

Gordon Pollock QC, lead barrister in the case. Criticised by Mr Justice Tomlinson for “sustained rudeness” to Nicholas Stadlen QC, silk acting on behalf of the Bank of England. Paid £3 million brief fee.

Forced to apologise to the court in pre-trial hearing for calling two female Freshfields solicitors on maternity leave “sex-crazed”.

All lawyers acting for the liquidators collected £38 million in fees.

Christopher Grierson, lead solicitor acting for the liquidators. Litigation partner at Lovells, which collected most of Deloitte’s legal fees

The High Court judge who presided over the case:

Mr Justice Tomlinson.

Helped to pen a guidebook recommending “very short” openings.

Previously head of the Commercial Court

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