The gift of the gavel

Being a judge can be frustrating because you have to bite your tongue every time you feel like speaking out on a topical issue. The requirement to maintain a dignified silence comes with the job. But privately, of course, things are different. 'We need to talk to each other, to act as a safety valve,' said Conrad Seagroatt, 65, who retired from the Hong Kong bench last week to work part time in English courts. 'If you didn't exchange ideas about day-to-day things you would be a very strange, remote kind of individual.'

Mr Seagroatt was prepared to let off a bit of that steam in an interview to mark his semi-retirement, reflecting on the state of the legal system and his concern that the government is not doing enough to support it. During his eight years at the High Court, the British judge specialised in injury cases from road accidents to multi-million-dollar medical-negligence claims. He is said to have pushed up the level of damages paid out in such cases, which is why he has been called 'the victim's friend', a label he qualifies rather than denies. The judge also has waged war on lawyers he believes are responsible for wasting time and money. 'Too many solicitors knew nothing about personal injury work yet were expecting to be paid as if they did,' he said.

The judge grew up in Birmingham, in the British Midlands, and like his father, who taught himself after leaving school at 13, chose a career in law. Mr Seagroatt read modern history at university, but felt drawn to follow in his father's footsteps. 'It was a very powerful influence. I genuinely wanted to help him as, I suppose, most sons would. He was always under the most enormous pressure.'

He chose to become a solicitor, but over the course of almost a decade the job helped him decide it was not for him: 'I don't think I was cut out to be a solicitor. The experience was enormously valuable, but I could not have done it as a long-term career. You are very much at the mercy of the telephone and have an instant need to deal with things which require a good deal of contemplation and study.' Mr Seagroatt switched to become a barrister in 1970. Focusing on crime and injury cases, his work in Britain ranged from dealing with accidents on trawlers, to defending alleged murderers.

He first visited Hong Kong in 1981 when he was hired to represent the family of police inspector John Mac-Lennan in an inquiry; the officer had died from gunshot wounds hours before he was due to appear in court on indecency charges. The investigation concluded it was suicide.

Mr Seagroatt's first impressions of the city were familiar ones.