an aversion to noise and had a baize door installed as a second door to his room to minimise external sound. Whilst in the post-war years there was a measure of anti-semitism at the bar55 it does not seem to have surfaced in chambers: there was a Jewish head of chambers (Karmel), Gumbel and Kahn-Freund had fled Nazi occupied Europe, and Tony Jolowicz had joined subsequently. Karmel was succeeded as Head of Chambers by Sam Cooke. He took firsts in both the classics and law tripos. He was placed first in the bar final examination in 1936, receiving the Certificate of Honour. He was President of the Cambridge Union in 1934 and was known there for his fiery advocacy, which makes it all the more surprising that his practice at the bar was largely advisory and there is little record of him in the law reports. There is no reported case where he was led by either Devlin or Pearson, one case where he was led by Sir Samuel Cooke David Karmel. Any interest in politics which he had when at the Cambridge Union seems to have disappeared. In 1938 he joined the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, where he contributed to the drafting of the Education Act 1944 and of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947. In 1946 he returned to private practice, joining 1 Brick Court. In 1947 he served as constitutional adviser to Lord Mountbatten, Viceroy of India at the time of Indian independence. He was Junior Counsel to the Ministry of Labour and National Service from 1950–60, although most of his practice at the bar consisted of commercial advisory work. Gordon Slynn was one of his pupils.56 He became a QC in 55 For example, the obituary of Gavin Lightman, The Times 4th August 2020, which recounts the difficulties he had. 56 It is not clear why Slynn did not stay at 1 Brick Court, although the number of Brick Court members in later years who were turned down by his chambers at 1 Hare Court is striking.
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