How often does a member of the House of Lords get cheered from the football terraces? The response is, not often. But this weekend, Manchester City supporters did just that when they unfurled a banner that said, “Pannick on the Streets of London.”
That play on a Smiths song title was a nod to Lord David Pannick. The renowned attorney who is presently defending the team in its legal battle with the Premier League.
Their conflict is only the most recent in a long line of prominent cases the attorney has taken on.
His clients over the course have included former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sir Philip Green, and Shamima Begum.
He was a young boy when he got the legal bug. Participated in debate at school and frequently visited the Old Bailey when he was 16 to observe court proceedings.
He entered the legal profession after graduating from Hertford College at Oxford University. One of his first cases involved defending a client in Hong Kong who was facing the death penalty.
On the Talking Law Podcast, he said, “We lost.” “Our client died by hanging.
“That’s not a good way to begin your practise; after a start like that, you can only improve. When I tell my clients that, some of them feel more at ease than others.
Despite the challenging start, he has had a lengthy and diversified career.
He defended gay military members who had been discharged from the army due to their sexual orientation in the 1990s.
Additionally, he stood up for BBC director-general Mark Thompson when a Christian organisation tried to bring charges against him for showing Jerry Springer the Opera in 2005.
“Pannick Attack”
2019 saw one of his most well-known incidents. When Boris Johnson tried to end the Brexit impasse by shutting down Parliament.
Westminster was riveted for four days as attorneys presented their cases to the Supreme Court.
Seldom has a guy been less well titled than Lord Pannick, according to Guardian cartoonist John Crace.
“Pannick exudes a sense of calm and has the uncanny ability to make you think you understand legal double-speak even when you don’t.”
“A Pannick attack is a thing of zen-like beauty…. In his hands, a legal submission is more a cosy bedside story than adversarial confrontation.”
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‘Objectionable’
Lord Pannick was elected as an independent or cross-bench lord to the House of Lords in 2008.
In an interview with Anthony Inglese for Counsel Magazine, he said, “It’s the only area where I am still recognised as Young Pannick.
The idea that my grandparents, who emigrated from Poland and Russia, would be shocked that their grandson would be honoured in this way, made me feel humble.
His actions in the House of Lords came under fire in 2022 after officials informally claimed that modifications he helped to put to the law in 2018 caused the delay in penalising Putin associates in Russia.
“I advise people on the law, and argue their cases in court, whoever they are, and whether or not I agree with them, or find them objectionable.”
Expanding on the point in a letter to The Times he said: “Justifiable outrage at the conduct of Putin, and those who support him, should not be allowed to dilute this vital ingredient of a free society, however inconvenient or unpopular it may sometimes be.”
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