Silk puts facts on the shelf in his latest case

Striding into his 50th year at the Bar and looking back on his younger days, Neville Sarony QC, SC has no regrets about giving up the chance of a promising military career to become a lawyer in the early 1960s. "In the army, you're required to follow orders even when the orders are stupid. I realised I might find that difficult," Sarony tells the South China Morning Post. "I followed sensible orders. But you can't pick and choose." Not keen on compromise, he turned down a tempting offer to join the British army to instead pursue his passion, studying law at the London School of Economics. That decision was to shape the rest of Sarony's life. After graduating and being called to the Bar in 1964, he began a legal career that in time saw him handle many high-profile cases. They included a Hong Kong criminal case in which he defended an arsonist whose deed claimed the lives of 12 people. Now, 50 years on, the 75-year-old senior counsel is again pursuing his passion - this time away from the legal field and into the world of fiction writing. Sarony's upcoming book Devlin's Wheel - a sequel to his first novel The Dharma Expedient, published in 2012 - examines judicial independence in Hong Kong. In the novel, Beijing, the exiled Tibetan government and a Tibetan religious body fight over a treasure that was mistakenly transferred to Hong Kong. Sarony has also recently published his memoir, Counsel in the Clouds, which he describes as an account of his odyssey as a young enterprising lawyer in Nepal in the 1960s. He was Nepal's first foreign advocate admitted to its Supreme Court. His late wife Bim Dewan was Nepali. In his memoir, the lawyer, who has fought for brain-damaged patients in negligence claims against corporate giants and public bodies, says he once visualised himself as a "bewigged and gowned white knight riding abroad to remedy the injustices of a cruel world". Then in his 20s, Sarony says he chose the title because he often pictured himself as being trapped in the clouds that would envelope the Nepalese capital Kathmandu until the sun rose and its warmth dispersed them to reveal the high hills and vast valley below. Readers could easily interpret this idea of beauty beneath the clouds as Sarony's love for Nepal, its people and his late first wife. But was this shroud a symbol of his frustration at the country's ethnic, religious and political conflict, its deeply ingrained corruption and lack of infrastructure? Did it represent his indignation at the discrimination and injustice he witnessed there? Or perhaps the struggles he faced? "Just read the book and you will know," says Sarony, who is the son of the popular 1930s British singer-songwriter Leslie Sarony. As with Nepal, Sarony may sometimes also view Hong Kong as being overcast with dark clouds - representing the political tensions between the city and the mainland. But he also sees a place brimming with hope, as well as the place where he had the opportunity to rebuild his life after he divorced his second wife in the 1990s, he says. Sarony believes it may take many years of sunshine - in the form of concessions from both Hong Kong and Beijing - to lift the clouds caused by the seemingly irreconcilable differences between the two sides. Compromise is "the currency of bureaucracy", he says. His view on compromise may have mellowed over the years, but Sarony is still as fiery when it comes to fighting injustice. "I may not quite see it in the same romantic picture I painted at the outset, but I still believe one has to fight injustice in its many forms," he says. "In this troubled world, there is an urgent call for an honest advocate who fights within the rules against those who frequently bend them." Sarony's strong sense of justice has served him well throughout his legal career, confirming for him that he made the right choice when he rejected that British army offer all those years ago. But the decision was not an easy one to make. Sarony had completed his compulsory military service with the 7th Gurkha Rifles in Malaya in 1960. And his father, who served in the London Scottish Regiment in the first world war, had wanted his son to join the army. But Sarony eventually decided he had to follow his own path in life. "I thought my independent mind would not fit comfortably with a lot of military orders. So I realised maybe a military career would not be my cup of tea," he says. In 1980, the lawyer also turned down another prestigious career opportunity - this time at the Attorney General's Chambers in Hong Kong, now known as the Department of Justice. At the time, Sarony, already a successful advocate enjoying a blossoming career in Britain, received an invitation from John Griffiths, then Hong Kong's attorney general, to head its new commercial crime department. But at the interview for the role, the barrister said he did not think he was the right person for the job. "I told them what you're asking me to do is to join an organisation that will have internal politics, [but] I don't play politics," he says. Even so, he was offered the job the next morning, which he politely declined, he adds. "But fate has a curious way of dealing its cards," he says. A few years later, an English barrister friend invited Sarony to join him in Hong Kong. Fed up with the politics in England and betrayals by those who worked closely with him, Sarony decided to take the plunge and embark on the adventure. His experience here has proven fulfilling, he says. He has handled cases at every level from the Magistrates' Court to the Privy Council of England. Among them was the infamous Shek Kip Mei HSBC branch fire in 1994 that claimed the lives of 12 people, mostly bank staff. The arsonist, Chu Po-kwong, had run into the bank looking for his wife's friend, who worked there. He thought she could tell him where his wife was, but the woman wasn't there. He set two bottles of paint thinner alight in a fit of anger. Sarony's defence saw the man convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter instead of murder. Chu was jailed for 20 years. In general, Sarony says he is impressed by the quality of the city's jurors, who often deliver rational verdicts without letting emotions cloud their judgment. While he was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1992 and Recorder of the Crown Court of England and Wales from 1992 to 2004, he says a permanent seat on the bench is not for the committed advocate. He became Senior Counsel in 1997. Neville Sarony Age: 75 Family: Divorced, with a daughter Education: LLB(Hons), London School of Economics Qualifications: Commissioned 7th Gurkha Rifles Called to the Bar of Gray's Inn (June 1964) Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nepal (1985) Appointed Queen's Counsel (1992) Recorder of the Crown Court of England and Wales (1992-2004) Assistant Recorder of the Crown Court of England and Wales (1984-1992)

Silk puts facts on the shelf in his latest case

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Neville Sarony on his journey from 'bewigged white knight' to a fictional account of judicial independence in the fight for a Tibetan treasure

Neville Sarony on his journey from 'bewigged white knight' to a fictional account of judicial independence in the fight for a Tibetan treasure