PEBA is immensely grateful to Mr Justice Holgate for continuing to allow several junior PEBA members to spend time as a Marshall with him. This experience has proved incredibly beneficial. More High Court Marshalling is planned for later this year. Edward Abedian, a pupil at Landmark has set out below a summary of his time as a Marshall.
In March 2023 I spent three days shadowing the Hon. Mr Justice Holgate in the High Court, courtesy of PEBA’s marshalling scheme. I observed a rolled-up hearing for an application for judicial review of the decision to grant a Development Consent Order for the Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station. Fortunately this opportunity to marshal with the Planning Liaison Judge, in a case concerning one of the most significant energy infrastructure projects in the UK, coincided with my pupillage seat in Planning and Environmental law.
I learnt a great deal from being able to observe court proceedings from a judge’s perspective, and not simply because of the change in vantage point. I now appreciate the volume of material and limited time judges must work with, after having prepared for the case in (almost) the same amount of time as the Judge before the hearing. This underlined the importance of making the judge’s life easier before one even steps foot in the courtroom: for example by ensuring that essential reading lists are reduced to what is truly “essential”; or providing a single source which summarises the story, especially in complex cases with lots of moving parts. Mr Justice Holgate explained his case preparation and how he identified the key areas he wanted the advocates to focus on in their oral submissions. This will help me in conducting my own cases in future, particularly in tackling judicial interventions which are one of the most daunting challenges for very junior practitioners.
This has been one of the most beneficial experiences so far during my pupillage. I highly recommend others do something similar in their early years of practice.
I want to thank the PEBA Committee for this opportunity, as well as Gregor Donaldson and the court staff for accommodating me and ensuring everything ran smoothly. I am also, of course, very grateful to Mr Justice Holgate for being so generous with his time and providing an invaluable insight into the judicial mind. I have no doubt that I will look back on this experience as a formative one as I progress at the Bar.
Edward Arash Abedian
Pupil Barrister
Landmark Chambers
6 April 2023