James Goudie, QC, of 11 KBW, acted for the Information Commissioner in the High Court case relating to the expenses claims of 14 prominent past and present MPs, including Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron. The High Court ruled in favour of the commissioner and the details have now been disclosed to the campaigner and journalists who requested them under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

What were the main challenges in this case and the implications?

The main challenge was to the very structure that Parliament itself had set up for everyone else in the Freedom of Information Act. This provides for decisions to be made by the specialist Information Commissioner and Information Tribunal, with recourse to the courts only on points of law. No true point of law arose in this case. The tribunal had made a carefully reasoned decision. A subsidiary challenge was an attempt to say that publication schemes (or at any rate, the House of Commons scheme) limit what has to be provided in response to individual requests. Again, this attempt was entirely contrary to the letter and the spirit of Parliament’s own legislation. Had either challenge succeeded the adverse implications for access to information generally would have been very serious.

What was your worst day as a lawyer?

A day that has happened more than once: getting a disastrous answer in cross-examination.

What was your most memorable experience as a lawyer?

Appearing as a young solicitor-advocate on behalf of Greater London Council tenants against a top QC.

Who has been the most influential person in your life and why?

Apart from family and legal practice, Philip Hartley — I was his deputy and then successor as leader of Brent council. He was a political inspiration. At the Bar, I have been especially influenced by my pupil-master, Brian Capstick; and my first heads of chambers, Morris Finer, QC, and Peter Pain, QC, sadly none of them any longer with us, and by Derry Irvine, happily very much still with us, who established 11KBW and went on, of course, to be a great lord chancellor. The most influential person of all, however, has been my wife.

Why did you become a lawyer?

To save people from the gallows. Yes: it was that long ago.

What would your advice be to anyone wanting a career in law?

Go for it, but consider whether you may be better-placed if you have albeit briefly done something else first and have experience of the world outside the law.

Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?

No longer head of chambers, but basking in the reflected glory from the exceptional practitioners in chambers even younger than myself, and from my two sons, both of whom are thriving at the Bar.

l_tsang@hotmail.com

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