Duncan McNair

Duncan McNair, KHS is a commercial and corporate litigation lawyer and author, the youngest of seven children of Squadron Leader Robin McNair and his wife, Estelle (née Townsend), who was a great-niece of Sir Edmond Townsend.

Life and career

McNair was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing and at the University of Bristol, where he was Vice-President of the University Debating Union. He has practised City oriented litigation at Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), at Lawrence Graham LLP, and, since 2012, at Cubism Law,[1] specialising in major commercial and corporate litigation and public law cases, domestically and internationally.[2]

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill

In 2011 McNair acted for the successful third party interveners in A, B & C –v- Republic of Ireland, before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).[3] This was a landmark case in which the court dismissed a wide range of complaints by A, B and C, claiming lack of access to abortion facilities in Ireland. The court upheld only one complaint brought by the Claimants as to breach by Ireland of Article 8 ECHR (Right to Privacy), finding that Ireland had violated the Convention by failing to provide clear information on whether a woman was entitled to an abortion under prevailing Irish law. In light of the ABC case, the Irish Government introduced[4] the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill to detail the circumstances under which abortions in Ireland could be legally performed. This passed into law in July 2013.[5]

Other notable cases

In 2012 he acted for successful interveners in BPAS –v- Secretary of State for Health, in the Administrative Court in London. He was named respectively "Lawyer in the News" (Law Society Gazette) and "Lawyer of the Week" (The Times) for his conduct of these cases.[6]

The McNair Inquiry and Report

In 2013 McNair was appointed by the RSPCA to chair a national review of its Freedom Food scheme.[7][8] Serving on his panel were former cabinet minister and Secretary of State at DEFRA, the Rt Hon Caroline Spelman (MP), and Prof. David Main (BVetMed, PhD, MRCVS), Reader in Animal Welfare and Behaviour at the University of Bristol Veterinary School. Evidence was taken from all areas of animal food production, distribution and retail and from interested parties.[9] The McNair Report was presented in May 2013. Its recommendations were unanimously approved by the Council of Trustees of the RSPCA the following month. The RSPCA later announced it is formulating a strategy to build on the recommendations of the McNair Report.[10]

Honours

Duncan McNair was appointed a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre (KHS) by the Roman Catholic Church in 2002.

Books

McNair has written two books, The Morello Letters – Pen pal to the stars[11] and More Morello Letters – Pen pal to the superstars[12] under the pseudonym of a fictional Italian immigrant, "Mrs Morello, a lover of all things British", who struggles to understand some of the more idiosyncratic aspects of British life. Both books have been widely reviewed and acclaimed.[13][14][15] In 2012 The Morello Letters was included by BBC Radio 4 listeners amongst their funniest books ever in Open Book’s Listeners’ Funniest Books hosted by Mariella Frostrup.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Duncan McNair - Commercial Litigators London, UK - Cubism Law".
  2. ↑ Blackmore, Nicole (15 December 2013). "My Cyprus mortgage payments went up by 166%". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Jonathan Rayner (6 January 2011). "Duncan McNair acted for pro-life campaigners over right to abortion". Law Society Gazette. Archived from the original on 8 January 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  4. ↑ the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill
  5. ↑ Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill passes into law in July 2013.
  6. ↑ "Lawyer of the week Duncan McNair". The Times. London. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  7. ↑ Freedom Food scheme
  8. ↑ "RSPCA urged to maintain and increase support for Freedom Food Assurance Scheme – Interview with Duncan McNair". Yorkshire. September 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  9. ↑ The McNair Report website
  10. ↑ McNair, Duncan. "Independent review of Freedom Food". RSPCA. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  11. ↑ The Morello Letters – Pen pal to the stars, Harper Collins, 2006; ISBN 978-0007241231
  12. ↑ More Morello Letters – Pen pal to the superstars, Harper Collins, 2011; ISBN 978-0956342225
  13. ↑ "Banana Trouble" [book review], Accountancy Age, 19 October 2006. Business Source Complete; last accessed 29 August 2013
  14. ↑ "The King of the spoofs" [book review], The Evening Post (Nottinghamshire), 9 September 2006: pg. 18, Newspaper Source Plus; last accessed 29 August 2013.
  15. ↑ "Bishop and Lord Mayor 'booked'" [book review]. Coventry Evening Telegraph (England), 16 December 2006: 2. InfoTrac; last accessed 29 August 2013
  16. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01946wg

External links

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