From the Irish News and Belfast Morning News, 6 December 1902, this account of first briefs of famous barristers, including Irish barrister Daniel O’Connell:
“The famous Lord Brougham received his first brief under rather extraordinary circumstances. He was travelling by rail* to attend the assizes at a certain county town, when he noticed that one of his fellow passengers seemed to be in very grievous trouble. Explaining that he was a barrister and might be able to help him, Brougham invited the troubled one to confide in him and thus learned the following story:–
His companion was a country innkeeper, who a short time before had been entrusted with the deposit of £2000, which he was warned only to pay over to the three men from whom he had received it. In one way or other, one of the latter managed to induce the custodian to hand the money over to him, and then was dishonest enough to abscond with it.
The other two thereupon sued the innkeeper for its recovery, and it was the likelihood of having to pay the £2000 which gave him so much concern. Brougham at once accepted a brief for the defence, which took the following ingenious form:-
‘My Lord,’ he said to the judge, ‘We admit the custody of the money in question. We admit also that we paid it away to one of the three men in spite of strict injunctions to the contrary; but we are now ready to reimburse the full amount claimed if the court will produce the three men who originally made the deposit.’
This he knew very well it was impossible to do, and he was perfectly safe in adopting the extremely bold line, which his wonderful ingenuity and resourcefulness suggested to him.
The first brief ever received by Sir Henry Hawkins, now Lord Brampton, is in the possession of a certain London solicitor. It is marked in the usual way by the solicitor instructing him: ‘Mr Hawkins, £1.1s, clerk, 2s.6d.’
It is little short of sixty years since that brief was delivered, and although it was the forerunner of some thousands of others, surprise has been expressed that the distinguished lawyer did not take pains to preserve his first brief.
But it was probably required when the solicitor was ‘vouching’ his bill of costs and never returned. In the rush of work which immediately descended upon the fortunate Mr Hawkins, he probably forgot all about it. For this legal treasure its present owner is said to have refused an offer of a £10 note.
Although Sir Walter Scott did not attain eminence as a barrister, it is interesting to recall here how he disposed of the first fee he received in that capacity. This was a fee of five guineas, and he expended it in the purchase of a silver ornamental taper-stand, in a morocco and velvet case, which he presented to his mother.
The paternal relic of the famous Scottish writer was offered for sale by auction in the room of Messrs Southerly four of five years ago and realised the substantial price of £72. It was sold by order of the widow of the late Reverend T Scott-Huxsley, a great nephew of the Wizard of the North.
Daniel O’Connell had very good reason for remembering the first brief that he had received, for it was the only one that came to him during his whole first year at the Irish bar. It was marked with a fee of £2.5s.6d, which was, of course, all the money he earned in that period of twelve months. But in later years, his briefs brought him an income of about £4000 per annum.
Mr WR McConnell, KC, the Chairman of the County of London Sessions, has also good reason for remembering his first brief, in so much as he not only lost the fee he made by it, but something of greater value.
His brief was for the prosecution in a trivial case of felony, and before going to court, he changed his ordinary coat for a smaller one, which he wore under his robes. Unfortunately, during his absence in court, his temporarily discarded garment was stolen from the robing room, and he never had the satisfaction of prosecuting the thief or of knowing that he had been captured.”
*Brougham qualified as a barrister c.1800, making it unlikely that the story of his first brief involved a railway journey; postchaise appears more likely.
Another potential candidate for inclusion in the above article might have been Irish barrister John Philpot Curran, whose touching account of his first, or at least his first decently paying, brief is available to read at this link.
For those interested in a (one hopes!) apocryphal story of a barrister who died with his only brief clutched to his heart, read on here.
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