Bringing Down Goliath: How Good Law Can Topple the Powerful

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The book tells my story – my journey from homelessness at 16 to Queen’s Counsel and then campaigning lawyer – and why I believe the rule of law is under threat like never before. And it tells of Good Law Project – how it came to be, its successes and its future. Jolyon Maugham’s revealing account of his life and career exposes a flawed world view so common to lawyers

This book highlights significant failings and potential widespread corruption. It shows how the law can prove and challenge but is failing to hold to account. However, as argued in this book, it is beyond its reach or remit. The talk began with Maugham getting candid with the audience when he reflected on his life from childhood to tax lawyer to founding the Good Law Project. He talks of his adoptive father throwing him out when he was 15 years old and how he relocated from New Zealand to the UK with a desire for normalcy after an abusive relationship with the patriarchy. When he relocated, he met his biological father for the first time. He depicts a specific moment that surprised him about his father, an upper-class man, which was that he did not care to know what life was like in a coal-mining village. Maugham remembers this to be his connection with the working class, that he reveals he can now no longer connect with in his place of privilege. He talks of how his adolescent hardships led him to have conventional aspirations that led him to become a tax lawyer, as he desperately wanted to fit in. Good law is difficult and, to most people, rather boring. It does not play well on social media. One benefit of the less highly networked culture of the recent past is that the acquisition of influence tended to be slow, and meritorious; whereas today, a certain kind of status within the ever-growing online legal world can be achieved swiftly, by playing to the cheap seats. So, for the time being at least, it is hard to completely refute Maugham’s clichéd insistence that “the real court is that of public opinion”. He wrote: “The evidence that JK Rowling has been ‘cancelled’ for her views about trans children is (self-evidently) a little thin on the ground. But the evidence that her words cause anguish to trans children, who cannot speak for themselves, is evident from charities, like Mermaids who are obliged to speak for them.” Rowling rejected the suggestion that she was aware of his attempts to engage in discussions about gender issues with other feminists.Taxation law specialist Maugham was widely condemned in 2019 after claiming he had “killed a fox with a baseball bat” while wearing his wife's kimono in his garden on Boxing Day. Maugham wrote: “We both know the review has got nothing to do with the quality of the book and everything to do with what The Times is - and where it stands in relation to my politics - which is exactly the point my tweet makes. By law, the government must publish a summary of any publicly awarded contracts within a certain timeframe. Hoffman was also Chairman and Director (unpaid) of Amnesty International Charity Ltd, a satellite of AI. Hoffman’s wife had also worked as an administrator at AI for many years. This is, surprisingly, not hypocrisy. Like many convinced of their own righteousness, Maugham arrives at a seemingly hypocritical conclusion by fanatical sincerity. The explanation for these contradictions is simply that, to Maugham, ideology is the first condition of judging, and the law is merely an instrumentality to achieve his preferred political ends. A good judge, to Maugham, is a judge who will implement Maugham’s preferred political outcomes.

Mercy Grant had a dream of becoming a hairstylist and living a quiet existence with her husband and child. As it turned out, her life was anything but quiet.

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We both know I have written to many GC feminists seeking a private discussion of trans issues and to de-escalate the ‘debate’.

A revealing, empowering vision of how the law can work better for all of us, from Jolyon Maugham KC, founder of Good Law Project. We know that the law, in the right hands, can be a fair and decent force for good. It is a practical tool for positive change and can make amazing things happen. Anyone on this thread who believes that wasting billions – documented by the government’s own watchdog – on overpriced, unsuitable equipment is a good idea needs to have their heads examined. Aside from this, Maugham weaved humorous commentary into his talk that kept the audience engaged and entertained. This book is definitely one that I would recommend for people with an interest in changing how public law can hold powerful people to account. Initially, in turns out that a couple of contracts had been awarded to Tory party donors on terms unfavourable to the government and details not published.

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Maugham also responded to a letter signed by 150 writers including Rowling, which denounced the “restriction of debate”. Hoffman sat as a Law Lord in the extradition case of Augusto Pinochet.That case had been brought to the House of Lords by Amnesty International (AI) and others. Thus a new path was forged taking Mercy's life in a uniquely surprising direction. Having a new found purpose and spirit, Mercy went on to shake the very foundations upon which our society is built! The political landscape is increasingly polarised, almost tribal. This book covers one arm of the state (The law) challenging the legislator ( the incumbent government). Today, challenging or holding to account the government doesn’t give rise to debate, it entrenches people’s beliefs. Often, these are based on nothing more than holding faith and facts in the same regard. If you like or see your identity in the reflection of this government then you will not like the challenge this book documents. This story is about greed and power, violence and betrayal, lies and deception, survival, redemption and love. Mercy's story is scandalously unique, a never-before-told story.