“What, no Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers?!” I bellowed after scanning Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
“No Sir Nicolas Bratza either, or Baroness Hale of Richmond, or even David Allen Green…” I continued, drawing some strange looks from the other men in the barbers’ waiting area, where I’d happened upon the latest issue of Time.
The good news is that Adele made the list, as did fellow Brits Tilda Swinton (?!) and Kate Middleton.
There were, however, foreign lawyers aplenty – especially US ones – with over 10% of Time’s 100 most influential people members of the legal profession. Not that all of the chosen few made it on the back of their work as lawyers, with many having since gone onto other careers.
So who are they?
Fatou Bensouda – the incoming Gambian chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
Preet Bharara – US attorney for the Southern District of New York
Iftikhar Chaudhry – Chief justice of Pakistan
Hillary Clinton – US secretary of state
Andrew Cuomo – Governor of New York
Anthony Kennedy – US Supreme Court associate justice
Christine Lagarde – Head of the International Monetary Fund (and former chair of Baker & McKenzie)
Alexei Navalny – 35-year old law graduate who is a prominent member of the Russian opposition movement
Barack Obama – 44th president of the US
Mitt Romney – Republican presidential candidate
Marco Rubio – Republican senator
