Lord Pannick: advocate as formidable as his fees

When Boris Johnson needed help in his Partygate battle, he turned to the “terrific and punchy advocate” Lord Pannick KC.

The esteemed barrister boasts an illustrious career, having represented a number of highprofile clients including Queen Elizabeth, the former BBC directorgeneral Mark Thompson, Shamima Begum and an ally of Vladimir Putin.

Pannick developed an interest in debating at an early age, having spent time on a scholarship at the private Bancroft school and watched cases at the Old Bailey as a 16-year-old. His scholarship opened doors for him to study law at Hertford College, Oxford, and he qualified as a barrister 1979.

He first client was a man in Singapore who was facing the death penalty. Reflecting on the case, he told Sally Penni on the Talking Law podcast: “Our client was hanged. That’s not a good way to start your practice – you can only get better after a start like that.”

And it seems he did. The barrister Jo Maugham KC, who founded the Good Law Project, described the crossbench peer as “a terrific lawyer with an absolutely formidable reputation across the sector”. But some have questioned whether it is not just Pannick’s talent, but his distaste for the Partygate inquiry, that has encouraged him to defend the former prime minister.

He earned plaudits after leading the article 50 case against Johnson’s government and represented Gina Miller successfully, marking him as one of the most skilled barristers of his generation.

Pannick, “like many barristers of his status, is not troubled by selfdoubt”, a lawyer who has worked with him told the Guardian. “That extends not just to an area of learning where he has less need for self-doubt, like public law, but other areas he is not interested in, like the interrelationship between power and the law.”

Pannick is also renowned for his fees. He charges approximately £5,000 an hour for his services.