Henry Brooke

Former judge. Retired mediator. Member of the Access to Justice Commission. Patron of PLP and seven other legal NGOs. Blogs at

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

2/2 Tomorrow afternoon my son Nick will post news from the hospital on his @moonbroth Twitter site. I hope it isn't postponed...

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

1/2 I am very touched by the 3500 gestures of goodwill before my cardiac valve surgery tomorrow, plus 170 retweets or messages. Thank u all

[The Secret Barrister 🦋 @BarristerSecret]

If all rape trials are to be reviewed because the DPP belatedly accepts the scope for massive miscarriage of justice caused by disclosure, all volume cases should be reviewed too: https://t.co/lt02XAuhHK

[The Secret Barrister 🦋 @BarristerSecret]

The greatest disclosure problems are in fact in what are known as “volume” cases - run-of-the-mill criminal trials that don’t make the headlines: https://t.co/nzdvXIr3Gd

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

@MaryjaneFurniss Thank you, Jane

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

@chopsiek Thank you. How lovely.

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

My tweets will be stilled for a while: cardiac valve surgery on 29 Jan. A "Like" will be interpreted as goodwill, or as an imaginary candle.

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

My chapter on Criminal Justice in Appendix 5 to the Bach Report evidences the huge scale of the problem. I agree with Chair of Bar Council that savage financial cuts to justice bodies form a big part of the cause. https://t.co/zxlqqN0KLp

[Robin Murray @robinthemint]

@neill_bob This is truly excellent news. Thank you. Please do not allow the @CommonsJustice committee to fall into the same trap as many media outlets in focusing solely on recent rape case disclosure scandals. The campaign pre-dates these and the problem extends to all offences. https://t.co/EBdJNQO49n

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

Quite right too. I was at their last AGM and heard all about the wonderful work they do. https://t.co/xCqNVpFyee

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

@judiciaryUK This is splendid. If only the Government would realise that judicial exchanges at this level are incredibly valuable. There should be more of them https://t.co/HKxwibjP1D

[UK in Iraq 🇬🇧🇮🇶 @UKinIraq]

A senior delegation of English judges @JudiciaryUK visited #Iraq as part of our work to promote judicial independence & help strengthen Iraqi’s judicial capacity. Here Lord Justice Gross talks about the visit & the importance of the rule of law @MoJGovUK @tradegovukMENA

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

@CrimeLineLaw @RichardMoorhead It is always open to an appellant to withdraw a case prior to judgment, subject to the risk of costs consequences if the respondent has incurred any.

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

@AdamWagner1 And it was also a Labour Government which was strongly opposed to U.K. citizens having the right to access the court when it was first created.

[Dianne Hayter @HayteratLords]

Former Lords Brexit minister warns gov that lack of clarity on policy re EU-UK relations post Exit "would mean the transitional period is a gang plank into thin air" https://t.co/XPffqbzme3 via @financialtimes

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

This is one of the important lessons that have been learned since 1980. Quality of life is very important and is too often ignored or overlooked. https://t.co/XJuppdqTSo

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

@eprochaska Not, I think, with even greater respect, for a 55-year old man in 1980. Times have changed greatly since then.

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

@ian_imagee I remember one lawyer in the Treasury Solr's Dept who was keen that conferences with counsel at 4.30 should end quickly, so he could go home

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

@WGAbroad 2/2 In Bowman v Fels, the parties had settled but because it was a point of law of great public interest we heard argument and gave judgment

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

@WGAbroad 1/2 There is nothing a court can do: we ran into this problem with a test case in one of the credit hire cases I think.

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

We upheld Coulson J.'s approach. Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v McBains Cooper [2000] EWCA Civ 171 https://t.co/7I8zw2MSvo https://t.co/vsajv2IFUG

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

I remember that when insurers wished to settle a case after reading our draft judgment, we said we would deliver judgment anyway. They couldn't pick and choose publicity for judgments favourable to them. https://t.co/ctaHV577BA

[Henry Brooke @HenryBrooke1]

What a splendid appointment. https://t.co/dFyE3Cc7J6

[Matrix @MatrixChambers]

.@HelenMountfield appointed as Principal of @MansfieldOxford https://t.co/8B4jlsEeGs