Harris Society Lecture | Lord Justice Leggatt

Jasmine Ferraby (2022 Jurisprudence), Harris Society Co-President, writes:

The College welcomed Lord Leggatt to deliver the Harris Society Annual Lecture on 26 April 2024.  

Lord Leggatt read philosophy at King's College Cambridge, before being called to the Bar. He joined Brick Court Chambers in London in 1985 and practised as a barrister until 2012, specialising mainly in commercial cases. In 1997, Lord Leggatt was appointed a QC. From 2006 to 2008, he was vice-chair of the Bar Standards Board. In 2012, Lord Leggatt was appointed a High Court judge, assigned to the Queen's Bench Division, and was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2018. He became a Justice of the Supreme Court in April 2020. 

Lord Leggatt's lecture was entitled 'Precedent in English Law', a topic chosen in honour of Jim Harris and Rupert Cross's book of the same name. The lecture was introduced by the Harris Society Co-Presidents Orna Dixon, Jasmine Ferraby and Esme Irvine and was followed by a question-and-answer session. A drinks reception was held afterwards to allow attendees to speak further with Lord Leggatt, followed by dinner with a number of the college law students. 

The Harris Society would like to thank Lord Leggatt for generously giving up his time to deliver the Lecture and Slaughter & May for kindly sponsoring the event. It would also like to thank the college staff for their help in organising a successful event.