Interview
Interview with David Morgan D
avid Morgan has had a long and varied career, which started before he even dreamed of entering the legal profession. At nineteen his first job was in Austria where he volunteered to work with refugees for two and a half years. David looked after displaced boys aged six to twenty years old. He worked during the daytime in the HQ of the refugee project in Innsbruck. His evenings after work were spent volunteering in the hostel for Hungarian refugees. David's decision to go to Austria to work with the refugee children came about through his early encounter with politics in 1956. He’d heard about the Hungarian revolution against communism while recuperating from an emergency appendicitis operation in the infirmary at Winchester College. Years later, David joined the refugee project located in Innsbruck which was funded by the Norwegian and Austrian governments. David had a number of extraordinary experiences while in Austria including dinner with world leaders John F. Kennedy, US President and Nikita Khruschev, Soviet Premier in Vienna 1961. David was an overnight guest at the British Ambassador’s residence. He had such an enjoyable time at the dinner, where the drink flowed generously, that the following day he was arrested on his way back to the refugee hostel in Innsbruck and thrown into a police cell. He was surprised to be greeted next morning with the words “It’s the mad English tram driver!”. Thereby hangs another tale. When David travelled by tram in Austria, he enjoyed standing alongside the driver. Eventually he was asked if he would like to train to drive a tram, and he volunteered immediately. His daytime involved administrative work in the refugee project’s office, and in the evening volunteering at the hostel. In his spare time David drove the tram, having qualified as a driver. He‘d been driving for about five weeks when he found the street blocked by a communist party demonstration. Instinctively he shouted “brakes gone” and let the tram drive forward scattering demonstrators and driving over the banner in the process. David’s extracurricular tram activities came to the attention of his employer, hence the remark about the mad tram driver. When asked by his employer why the tram did not stop, David answered that he had not applied the brakes. He lost his job, but his employer found him another job as Austrian guide with Wallace Arnold Tours. During his time with the refugee project, David crossed the border into Hungary four times to visit the families of the boys, no mean feat at that time given oppressive restrictions. On his return to England, David joined Slaughter & May for his articles, on advice from his father. He did articles in the long form of five years, as he did not have a law degree. He became the in-house lawyer to Union International, owned by the Vestey Family and became interested in employment law. Under Prime Minister Ted Heath the industrial tribunals were set up, and a new tort of unfair dismissal promulgated. David has the distinction of taking the first case to the House of Lords (W.Devis and Sons v Atkins) with the issue being – can the employer use information acquired after an employee has been dismissed. The facts revolved around bribery. After the dismissal, farmers came to pay
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their “dues” to the successor manager, such payments having nothing to do with the company. The company now sought to justify his dismissal on the grounds of gross misconduct. The dismissed manager took his case to the tribunal, and there the post dismissal evidence was presented.1 While working with the Vesteys, David met many trades unionists and became particular friends with Lou Lloyd, who represented the dockers in Liverpool. After ten years working for the Vestey family, David joined the litigation department of Wright Son & Pepper, where he also represented at Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunals and Employment Tribunals. He also conducted appeals at the Employment Appeal Tribunal, having been encouraged by the President of the EAT, who at the time was Lord Phillips. He intended to retire at the age of sixty-five but was invited to join Radcliffes Le Brasseur as a Consultant, where he worked for the next six years. David had more time to contribute to Law Society activities by this stage. One of the founder members of Holborn Law Society was the father of Anthony and Nicholas Wright (of WSP). David was asked to join Holborn Law Society and eventually became President before Holborn merged with City of Westminster Law Society. The society was always active in the Federation of European Bar Associations, and in 2002 David became President of the FBE, one of only four English solicitors to become President in its twenty-eight year history. On one memorable occasion, David attended a meeting of the International Criminal Bar Association in Berlin, convened by Jeroen Brouwer, President of the day of the Dutch Bar. As a visiting office holder and bar leader, David was asked to preside over the elections. He was surprised to be handed a resolution condemning the US/UK invasion of Iraq. He refused to accept it as not being an appropriate matter and it was put to the vote as to whether the resolution could be put to the meeting. There were only six votes in favour and five hundred and forty-seven voted against the resolution becoming the business of the meeting. Nevertheless, that was not the only controversy of the ICBA meeting. There was also a disputed election. David presented his report on the election to a meeting of the ninety-four state parties who had signed up to the Treaty of Rome, which established the International Criminal Court at the United Nations in New York. His report was published widely subsequently. In 2005, David became a Council Member representing Holborn on the Law Society of England & Wales. He was a member of the Legal Affairs and Policy Board, and the European Union Committee and represented our members on many issues. He also served as a member of the UK delegation to the Council of European Bars (CCBE). He has been an extremely active member of WHLS International Committee and was Chair of the committee for a number of years. I first attended the International Committee meetings when the committee was hosted by David in the offices of Radcliffes Le Brasseur. He encouraged our endeavours to support human rights in Colombia, and under his chairmanship a representative of Peace Brigades International attended the committee meetings to keep us updated on the situation of human rights lawyers in Colombia. Our involvement resulted in the setting up of the Colombia Caravana, and the first
