* What a pity that the former Lord Chancellor was not employed to use his honed diplomatic skills in the dispute between Tarique Ghaffur, the Assistant Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and his bosses at the Met. Lord Falconer of Thoroton was suggested for mediating the dispute in which Ghaffur alleges racial discrimination — and avoid a tribunal hearing where it is now heading. Falconer, who recently announced his move to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, the US law firm where he is now senior counsel, was not used (the Met instead chose Sir Philip Otton, the retired Appeal Court judge). One reason is thought to be the fees that would have been payable: Falconer needs to catch up on all those years in government. About £15,000 for two days, say some, was mentioned — roughly double the going rate.

* The recent article (Law, August 14) on judges’ titles has prompted a spate of letters. The latest comes from Peter Farthing, who points out that shortly “all the fun and games” of choosing titles will end. Constitutional reform and the separation of the judiciary and executive means that senior judges will no longer get peerages on appointment, he says, although perhaps they will on retirement. “So when in October Sir Igor Judge succeeds Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, he will remain plain Sir Igor Judge, LCJ, like Sir Anthony Clarke, MR.” Judges appointed to the new supreme court after October 2009 will not receive peerages. “So those appointed in the next few months to succeed Lords Hoffmann and Scott of Foscote must do their best to entertain us with their choice of titles.”

* As judges prepare to put on new modern robes in civil and family cases this autumn, the Bar is standing firm. Tim Dutton, QC, chairman of the Bar, has issued guidance making clear that court dress (wigs, gowns, wing collars) will prevail in all cases where they do now. Elsewhere — such as magistrates’ courts where the liberty of the subject is not atstake, the Commercial Court or lower family courts — it is to be “business suits”.

* Stuart Isaacs has become the first London QC to open his own office in Singapore. Isaacs, who practises in commercial law, arbitration and EU law from 3/4 South Square, Gray’s Inn, had to obtain permission from the Singapore Attorney-General to practise there as a foreign lawyer. He said: “I have opened my Singapore office better to serve my large existing client base in the region and expand it. For the past ten years at least I have been travelling to the region about four times a year for professional commitments, both as counsel and as arbitrator.” Isaacs, who expects to be in Singapore on average once every six weeks, insists that he will not be competing with local lawyers but providing “an added-value service both to them and to the local offices of global law firms, offering specialist advice as a barrister would advise in London”.

* Who deserves to be made a QC? Forget the panel that now sifts hundreds of applicants yearly to decide on the chosen few who will enter the profession’s elite cadre. (Lady Butler-Sloss, the former President of the Family Division, has, by the way, just been made interim chairman of the QC selection panel after the resignation of Sir Duncan Nichol, who has moved to take up the post of chairman of the Court Service). No, this time we are talking honorary QCs, lawyers who have made “a major contribution to the law of England and Wales outside practice in the courts”. Traditionally, honorary silk — which is not a “working rank” and can’t be used in practice or to attract business — has been given to distinguished academics and some lawyers in public service. More recently it has been for other achievements as well: one of the 2008 appointees was Janet Gaymer CBE, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, for her work in employment law. The Ministry of Justice is inviting nominations, by November 7. E-mail: Simon.Newman@justice.gsi.gov.uk The title is only awarded in England and Wales — there’s no parallel in Scotland. Worthy Scottish lawyers should be nominated instead for an honour, the MoJ says.

* The MoJ is midway through moving offices. That is, the press office is now ensconced in Petty France, the old Home Office headquarters, but the rest of the department is still halfway down Victoria Street at Selborne House. The dislocation must be why none of the press office phones were working for a whole day this week . . . either that or Jack Straw is putting in new phone lines for his leadership bid.

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