As the profession comes to terms with his death, Legal Cheek looks back at Gary Slapper’s life and career
Lawyers are in mourning today over the news Gary Slapper has sadly passed away.
The Times — for which Slapper has written a regular online column for years — revealed yesterday that the well-respected legal commentator has died.
All @thetimes very sad to learn of the untimely death of our columnist @garyslapper. A huge loss – a lover of law's curiosities & people.
— Times Law (@TimesLaw) December 5, 2016
Slapper, who has written for Legal Cheek on several occasions, has been a stalwart in legal academia and commentary. With his ‘Weird Cases’ column and later his ‘Weird Cases’ book, Slapper’s humour means he has long been seen as a breath of fresh air in an often ultra-serious profession. Twitter tributes make this abundantly clear.
@TimesLaw Gary Slapper's writing showed me the law could be both technically fascinating and full of humanity, a sad sad loss
— Julia Anderson (@JoolsCAnderson) December 6, 2016
RIP Gary Slapper, a man who brought the lighter side of law to a generation through his Times column.
— Alex Wright (@alexwright174) December 5, 2016
What very sad news. Gary Slapper showed that the law could be entertaining as well as serious. https://t.co/TZzndqXQ49
— Mukul Chawla QC (@MChawlaQC) December 5, 2016
Students may also be familiar with his book ‘The English Legal System’, which Slapper co-authored with David Kelly.
We, and many other law school libraries, have the late Gary Slapper's book the English Legal System on our shelves.
— BPP Library Services (@BPPLibrary) December 6, 2016
As tributes continue to pour in, Legal Cheek remembers some of Slapper’s best tweets.
He was always happy to poke fun at the profession.
when lawyers do pool signage pic.twitter.com/G64XLsjmft
— Gary Slapper (@garyslapper) September 24, 2016
On more than one occasion.
when lawyers do territorial pic.twitter.com/tphUpv8oox
— Gary Slapper (@garyslapper) September 1, 2016
Slapper — who was until his untimely death global professor at New York University — was equally comfortable commenting on the most serious of criminal cases.
a justice system using "murder" and "6 years" in a judgment prompts more questions about itself than were asked in the case #OscarPistorius
— Gary Slapper (@garyslapper) July 6, 2016
He would occasionally dabble in politics.
I hope this isn't something to do with Donald Trump's latest foreign policy proposal pic.twitter.com/N1kNCwk5b7
— Gary Slapper (@garyslapper) June 5, 2016
But Legal Cheek will always remember him as the go-to-source for amusing legal anecdotes.
the defendant pic.twitter.com/ZvS8gj6z2g
— Gary Slapper (@garyslapper) July 31, 2016
— Gary Slapper (@garyslapper) March 4, 2016
RIP Gary Slapper.