Fifty shades of Jay... Robert Jay QC becomes star of Leveson Inquiry

Robert Jay QC has become the star of the Leveson Inquiry — and this week he won Barrister of the Year. Here are fifty things you need to know about the man with the golden questions
P36 MAIN - Photo: Rex Features

1 There’s the Jay Lexicon: “occlude” (to close), “bailiwick” (a person’s area of authority), sigh ...

2 Then those jaunty yellow framed glasses — and that beard.

3 He is sort of Ed Miliband’s wife’s boss (he is joint head of Thirty-Nine Essex Street Chambers, where Miliband’s wife Justine Thornton also works).

4 He’s a good listener: he’s heard everyone from Rupert Murdoch to Rebekah Brooks.

5 He became a Queen’s Counsel in 1998 at the tender age of 39. He is now 52.

6 He loves his job: during questioning of James Murdoch, Jay mouthed to colleagues “this is such fun”.

7 Sometimes there’s poetry: the emails between News Corp and Jeremy Hunt’s special adviser, he remarked, showed “light refracted through two intermediate prisms”.

8 He uses handwritten notes — written in pink ink (allegedly).

9 Jay is married to Deborah Jacinta Trenner, a writer, and they have a daughter.

10 He really is a cunning linguist: he speaks fluent French and conversational Italian.

11 He’s a Londoner. He was a top scholar at King’s College School, Wimbledon.

12 He had an open scholarship to New College, Oxford ...

13 ... where he was a contemporary of Hugh Grant ...

14 ... and got a first-class degree.

15 Jay has “capped” his workload during the inquiry at 70 hours a week.

16 It’s not all work, work, work though, he loves to cook...

17 ... and has a passion for history and art.

18 He refuses to use honorifics. David Cameron was addressed as Mr Cameron, not Prime Minister. In the corridor Jay calls Lord Leveson Brian.

19 More Jay talk: “propinquity” (nearness of relation), “pellucidly” (clearly).

20 Jaywatch: he once turned up to a meeting in shorts and shoes with striped socks, right.

21 A senior partner at law firm Leigh Day says Jay’s calm method of inquisition “works perfectly for the case”.

22 A Jay grilling starts with a slow burn before turning into a full roasting.

23 Spot him grabbing a coffee at Apostrophe on the Strand.

24 He has inspired games: #popleveson on Twitter involved musicians being questioned in the style of Jay — @Peston “Mr Marley, your admission of guilt in the sheriff case is admirable, but can I remind you it’s the deputy we are interested in”; @campbellclaret “Mr Mercury, if you put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger and now he’s dead, then a guilty plea might save time”.

25 More Jay classics: “I’m beginning to sound irritated, but I am.”

26 His parents are Marcelle Ruby Jay and the late Professor Barrie Samuel Jay, a consultant surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital.

27 He completed his pupillage with Simon Brown (now Lord Brown of Eaton-Under-Heywood).

28 He became a deputy high court judge in 2008.

29 Jay is “developed vetted” so he can act on matters of national security.

30 Barrister fees for the inquiry were £536,100 by January and rising — and Jay will take the largest share.

31 He has been nominated before but 2012 is his year after he scooped The Lawyer Magazine’s Barrister of the Year award this week.

32 He’s unexpectedly athletic: he cycles everywhere and is a member of Coombe Hill Golf Club.

33 “His greatest love is Wagner and the Ring Cycle,” says a friend.

34 He is unflappable. Not even a protester breaking into the courtroom while Tony Blair was giving evidence could break his wonderful calm.

35 After Leveson he is destined for greater things. A public inquiry is traditionally a route to becoming a High Court judge.

36 He has fans who worry on Twitter whether his elbows are sore from leaning on them as he asks questions.

37 He is a keen chess player. Very Thomas Crown Affair.

38 Jay’s most high-profile case up to now was against oil-trading firm Trafigura in 2007, which agreed to pay £30 million compensation to 31,000 people in Ivory Coast who claimed they had fallen ill after toxic waste was dumped.

39 He’s acted for the British government over alleged crimes in the Kenyan Mau Mau uprising and for Defra over pesticides.

41 He specialises in group litigation — the Erin Brockovich of London?

42 He is skilled at the putdown: probing Jeremy Hunt, right, on News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel’s claim the Culture Secretary was seeking “impactful remedies”, Jay asked Hunt whether “impactful” was “an adjective which would naturally fall from your lips”. “No,” said Hunt. “Is it a word?” wondered Lord Justice Leveson.
Jay’s response was withering: “Not one I would use, it’s fair to say.”

43 Jayspeak: adumbrate (to outline).

44 His middle name is Maurice.

45 His birthday is September 20 — he’s will be 53 if you want to send a card.

46 He is a Virgo (needs to serve and protect, lost without a project, tidy).

46 He often doesn’t pronounce his Rs, Heather Mills’s marriage may have been in “twouble”.

47 Lawyer Martyn Day says Jay’s intellectual approach is exactly what Leveson wants from a lead counsel.

48 His chambers’ profile claims he is “very good at giving it to his clients straight”.

49 The public would like him to be Sir Robert Jay. An e-petition to the Government says he has provided us with the best TV drama in years and has restored faith in our country’s ability to do things properly.

50 One last Jay word: “condign” (well-deserved).

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