Articled Clerkship 1958- 1961
On my first day as articled clerk at Bromley & Walker Solicitors in Leeds my Principal introduced me to the staff with the memorable injunction: “We’ve got a young lad from Cambridge ‘ere and I want no bloody swearin’ in this office!”
He then gave me my first task, to draft my own Articles from the precedent book where I discovered the following miraculous escape clause that was to change the entire course of my life:-
“The Master shall allow the Pupil to spend the last year of the 3-year term hereof at the London Agents of the Master”
I inserted this in the Articles deed which was duly signed. When, two years later, I reminded my Principal of the provision, he declared “Well, I suppose I can’t plead ‘Non est factum” (That’s not my seal) and arranged for me to spend my final year of articles with the firm’s agent in London where I have lived ever since.
I learnt a lot from John Bromley the senior partner, a meticulous and friendly lawyer, but didn’t follow his example in spending his annual holidays on the beach at Dinard preparing his tax returns, or inserting reminder notes in the ribbon of his hat before putting it on at the end of each day.
A LIFE-LONG LESSON
I learnt how to handle challenging clients when an elderly lady, after a long discussion about easements of way to her outside toilet, had the temerity to ask my Principal:
“But Mr Evans what’s the law on this?”
“What’s the law ?” – he roared, like Mr Bumble berating Oliver Twist with “You want some more!” as he pointed at his bookcase and declared:
“Yer see all them books oop there! They’re all law reports. Each book contains 30 or 40 cases.
In each case:
AND YOU’RE ASKIN’ ME WHAT THE BLOODY LAW IS!”
WITNESSING LAST DEATH SENTENCE ON A WOMAN IN 1958
A macabre highlight of my articles was attending the trial at Leeds Assizes of the infamous serial killer Mary Elizabeth Wilson. known as “The Merry Widow of Windy Nook”. Wilson was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering her last two husbands with phosphorous poison, despite having lost four husbands in three years, all four of whom were later found to have died of phosphorous poison following forensic examination of their remains.
Rose Heilbron KC (the first female Kings Counsel) was interrupted during her defence submission by a juror who rose to address Mr Justice Hinchcliffe in the following unforgettable terms:
Juror Please M’lud I wish to be excused.
Judge And on what grounds do you wish to be excused?
Juror Because my wife is about to conceive
Judge Surely you mean she’s about to be confined, but either way I think you ought to be there!
[Laughter in Court]
Judge “Silence in Court:
Wilson maintained silence in court throughout the trial. I’ll never forget the chilling moment when the judge placed the black cap on his wig to deliver the last British sentence of death by hanging to a woman, the “Widow of Windy Nook” a sentence later commuted to life imprisonment by exercise of the Royal prerogative of mercy.
FRESHFIELDS SOLICITORS 1961-63
After qualifying as Solicitor in 1961 I joined Freshfields, the Bank of England’s Solicitors, where I specialized in commercial law, learning more and more about less and less in the arcane field of unit trusts. I later discovered I may unwittingly have become one of Freshfields’ greatest benefactors:-
Law Gazette 8 December 2023 “Unwitting benefactor”
On 20 October the BBC reported that an elite law firm had rescinded job offers for three Ivy League students who blamed Israel for Hamas attacks. UK elite law firms will doubtless follow suit – despite past transgressions.
In 1961 as a newly qualified solicitor at Slaughter and May, the senior partner asked me my religion at his party for new recruits. I told him I was Jewish, prompting a letter next day cancelling my appointment.
On hearing of this, a friend’s father, Lewis Silman, told me Rothschild Bank paid Slaughter and May £500,000 annually (£10m today) for legal services, and arranged for me to report my experience to his partner, Leopold de Rothschild. I later joined Freshfields’. My boss announced a few months later that he could not understand why Freshfields’ were getting so much Rothschild work.
I never told Freshfields that I may have unwittingly been one of their greatest benefactors.
Trevor Lyttleton, London NW11
EUROPEAN PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
In 1963 I set up European Professional Services, ahead of my time in anticipating the need to provide British businesses with access to Europe’s top tax and legal experts, but sadly not bargaining on President De Gaulle’s veto of Britain’s EEC entry in 1967 that thwarted our efforts .
MUSIC LAW PRACTICE FROM 1970
Following corporate appointments at The British Metal Corporation and, after Harvard Business School in 1969, at Radio Rentals, I decided to apply my music expertise as legal consultant on music copyright for clients of Rubinstein Nash & Co. Solicitors including Emerson, Lake and Palmer.:-
Bartok rocks again The Sunday Times March 20, 2022
Your report on copyright lawsuits against Ed Sheeran (News Review, last week) reminds me of when I acted as legal consultant to Emerson, Lake and Palmer, who faced a similar claim from Bela Bartok’s estate. I suggested they settle, as copyright had indeed been infringed, and the Bartok estate was granted proportionate royalties from the ELP album. A year later we received on the grapevine a heartfelt message from Mrs Bartok: “Please tell them to do it again. We’ve made more money in a short time from the ELP album than from the entire Bartok estate since his death in 1947.” Trevor Lyttleton, London NWII
SOLE PRACTICE
I later practised music and copyright law on my own account. I used to warn inexperienced artists and composers that music business deals all too often went like this:
“I have the experience. You have the money” in 5 years time I’ll have the money and you’ll have the experience!”
These abuses included what I called “cemetery deals” where by the publisher acquired the full term of copyright in a musical work and agreed to pay the “composer” and 50% of worldwide royalties received by the publisher”, whilst making sure they never received those royalties by reallocating them to their overseas publishing subsidiaries.
When a young cellist asked me to vet a recording contract with a major publisher and explained how desperate she was to secure the contract, I advised her not to incur my legal costs as the publisher would only agree the most minor cosmetic changes. I explained that two categories of performers never need a lawyer to vet their contract:
ELDER LAW
I branched out into Elder Law In the 1980s where my experience in handling challenging elderly clients’ cases in the Court of Protection was supplemented by my understanding of the issues facing the elderly acquired as Founder and Chairman of the Charity, Contact the Elderly.
As chair of Contact the Elderly and in my law practiceI addressed the vital need to tackle elderly loneliness and dementia matters in legal journals, including articles on Making a Difference in meeting Society’s Greatest Challenge – Elderly Client Adviser and Testamentary Capacity Issues in advising the Elderly Client – New Law Journal and in the media.
Advice on Dementia and Enduring l Powers of Attorney – The Times February 21 2004
Is it possible for my wife and I to take out powers of attorney on each other while still compos mentis so to avoid all the legal trauma should one of us ever suffer from dementia? L.W., Neath, Wales.
Yes it is. Trevor Lyttleton, a solicitor and member of the Court of Protection Receivers Panel, which deals with this area of law, says that this is something that a lot of couples do. They each enter into a power of attorney, appointing the other spouse as attorney in the event of one or the other being mentally incapacitated.
In 2014 I received the Law Society’s Certificate on completing 50 years on the Roll of Solicitors, and retired as a solicitor in 2014.
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Law Society Certificate of 5 years – Read More