Supreme Court Judge Lord Briggs inspires Chichester law students with words of advice

The Right Honorable Lord Briggs gave a lecture on contemporary law to students at the University of Chichester last week, offering invaluable guidance to aspiring lawyers.

Describing the law department at the University as ‘excellent’, Lord Briggs, a Justice of the Supreme Court, spoke about liability in the tort of negligence for psychiatric injury to secondary victims.

He went on to answer a variety of questions from law students. When asked what advice he would give to those hoping to enter the legal profession, he said: “Think long and hard about which aspect of law takes your fancy, it’s worth really thinking about that at the outset. Secondly, get a good degree – it’s intensely competitive and getting a good degree is incredibly important. Also, make a rule for yourself to have a good work-life balance. And continue to do some pro bono work if you can for those who don’t have sufficient access to law in this country.”

During the lecture, Lord Briggs discussed a landmark judgment made recently in the Supreme Court. This included developments in the law following the recent judgment in Paul and another v Royal Wolverhampton Trust [2024].

Senior Lecturer in Law, Dr Amy Elkington, said: “We were so pleased to welcome Lord Briggs back to the University for his lecture on psychiatric injury within the tort of negligence. He provided an insightful analysis of the development of the tort, and how this informed the Supreme Court’s decision to not allow the claimants in Paul to claim for the psychiatric harm they had suffered from witnessing the negligent medical treatment of their loved ones.

She added: “We are very proud of our No.1 ranking in the recent National Student Survey and as a law department focused on developing our students’ employability skills and graduate attributes, we were grateful to Lord Briggs for his invaluable advice to students seeking to enter the legal profession, and were privileged to be joined by several of our law alumni and other legal professionals.”

To read Lord Briggs speech in full, go to supremecourt.uk/docs/speech-240119.pdf

For more information on our law courses visit: chi.ac.uk/law