David Dabbs, 1962–2025

Many years ago, before formal advocacy training for the Bar, David and I would take it in turns to act out the good advocate against the bad advocate before groups of students. On one occasion, the Old Bailey Judge Edward Clarke QC was in the audience. He had not heard that David was playing the bad advocate and Clarke's mutterings could be constrained for only so long before he stood up and loudly declared the plea in mitigation to be appalling example of the art.