So, keen to hear what the fiery Glaswegian had to say about the school-leaver route into law, I went along. But upon arrival, I was handed a grease-stained piece of paper telling me this:
OK, that grease stain may have been caused be me gorging on canapés to ease my disappointment.
In hindsight, I should have known this would happen. This is my third straight legal celeb event where the touted star has failed to turn up.
The others? Justice Gap’s March ‘Panel debate with Michael Mansfield QC’, which turned out to be a panel debate without Michael Mansfield QC (although they did manage to get barrel-of-laughs human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce to cover at the last minute).
Then there was the College of Law’s ‘Diversity at the Bar’ debate, which was to be chaired by Cherie Blair QC. Sadly, Blair bailed the day before, forcing the poor College of Law to cancel.
Now, while some journos get to go to celeb events every night, these things are a big deal to me. So please, household name lawyers, can you start bothering to turn up?