There is a case that marks every lawyer for life, a point when, win or lose, their career will never be quite the same again.
For William Redgrave, Partner at Baker & Partners, that case was Crociani v Crociani and others…
Although the trial in the Royal Court in 2017 only lasted three months, William, representing a bank-owned trust company, worked on the case for over seven years.
What began as a dispute over family trusts, between members of the Crociani family whose assets were said to be worth $500m, pitting mother against daughter, ended in a global search for assets involving a princess sibling and some priceless paintings.
If all that sounds more like a Jilly Cooper novel than a Jersey Court briefing, add anti-suit injunctions in France and Mauritius, and hotly contested hearings in Curacao and Miami, and you can see what a tangled web it was, as William explains.
“We had to establish the value of missing paintings to compensate the trust. We thought we’d have to do that from photos, but through a stroke of good fortune our art expert found out where one of the pictures was stored, and we were able to trace lots of the missing art works, including a painting by Van Gogh, to Miami,” he recalled.
“I had to go and give evidence in Miami to explain the Jersey proceedings to the judge there.
“It’s not uncommon for trust cases to rumble on for years, but the asset recovery part of this case extended it a lot.”
30 years of experience in law
If William can make leading one of the legal world’s most significant breach of trust cases sound like a simple task, it is testimony to decades working in commercial and trust cases.
Referred to by Chambers and Partners as “measured, even-handed and brilliant”, and praised in the Legal 500 2023 as ‘a superb advocate’, William began his career in criminal law, travelling daily between London and the Midlands to prosecute and defend cases ranging from robbery to sexual offences and fraud.
After developing a specialisation prosecuting fraud, William came to Jersey to assist on a bank fraud case in the late 1990s, moving to the island to join Baker & Partners in 2008.
As a litigation only offshore law firm that doesn’t operate an associated financial services business, Baker & Partners positions itself as being conflict-free.
The experience of its partners in acting both for and against financial services businesses, on behalf of regulators, trust beneficiaries, or customers, also helps explain its growth story.
“One of the USPs of Baker & Partners is that many of the partners have come from the Bar in England. As a courtroom advocate in England, I was in court very frequently and got very used to being treated robustly by judges.
“The constant questioning is good training: you learn from your mistakes, and it gives you a breadth of experience that it can be hard to obtain in Jersey, where you get less exposure to court.”
Changes to the profession
In 1992 William left Oxford with a history degree during a recession and decided to enrol in a law conversion course on his return from a year working and travelling. He obtained a place in chambers at Seven Bedford Row.
Here, he met Stephen Baker, and a number of other (then) young lawyers who have since become prominent faces in the Jersey legal scene.
“My father was a barrister, and he always seemed to enjoy his job, as I have too.
“No matter how you envisage your career panning out, you invariably take different paths as new opportunities arise.”
While William may still be working alongside people he has known since the 1990s, the profession has changed significantly over this period, drawing talent from a more diverse pool and opening justice to a wider audience.
“The legal profession in England is well balanced now between men and women, however all the Royal Court judges in Jersey are still men.
“As the diversity of people entering the legal profession changes, I would expect the diversity of the judiciary to follow eventually.
“Most of us recognise that if a legal system is going to be accepted by the public it needs to represent them broadly, in terms of gender and race, and I would expect the profile of Jersey’s judges to change with time too.”
If a legal system is going to be accepted by the public it needs to represent them broadly
ADVOCATE WILLIAM REDGRAVE
Since William began his career, English courts have ended the use of Latin, and in Jersey the use of French has also declined.
At the same time, changes to restrictive rules over litigation funding, which dated from the Middle Ages, give those without funds greater scope to bring civil claims.
“The courts have relaxed the rules around funding. A number of people with relatively small claims may be able to band together and bring a joint claim, making it more affordable.
“The possibility for third parties to fund litigation on a commercial basis opens access to justice to a wider group of people.
“People who might not be able to fund expensive litigation may now seek funding from a third party, who will pay the costs and make a profit if the claim is successful.
“Nevertheless, it is still difficult. Legal fees are expensive, and in England and Jersey you must pay the other side’s costs if you lose.”
Digitisation of the courts
Lawyers still call the collection of documents for court ‘bundles’ after the bundles of documents they used to bring to court, however everything is now filed electronically.
This is a largely positive change.
“In my early 30s I acquired a bad back lugging so many books and papers in and out of taxis and trains.
“A complex court case may have tens of thousands of documents, and searching for a term in a document is much easier electronically.
“However, I still like to print some important papers so I can make notes on them in court and memorise parts which might be needed.”
Courts sometimes now use electronic presentation equipment to show documents, and realtime onscreen transcripts of hearings, speeding up the process, while AI is another game changer for efficiency.
In my early 30s I acquired a bad back lugging so many books and papers in and out of taxis and trains
advocate william redgrave
“Disclosure of relevant documents plays a big role in civil cases. AI will probably replace much of the work now done by junior lawyers and paralegals reviewing vast numbers of documents to find out if anything is relevant.
“AI is faster and as it gets better at understanding what we need, it will become an increasingly useful tool for summarising documents too.
“There is still plenty of work for lawyers, writing good submissions and pleadings, and standing up and arguing in front of a judge.
“When you get to the level of persuasion and advocacy, I can’t see AI taking over all that.”
The future of law
Founded in Jersey in 2003, Baker & Partners in Jersey is now an LLP. There are also offices in the Cayman Islands, London, and the BVI. This year, following its 20th anniversary, the Jersey office has expanded to take over the ground floor of the former Midland Bank Building in St Helier.
When you get to the level of persuasion and advocacy, I can’t see AI taking over all that
advocate william redgrave
Despite the advances of AI, William sees strong potential for young lawyers specialising in commercial or civil work.
“It’s a lot tougher these days for criminal lawyers in England than when I started out. Government funding has dried up and the number of cases has increased.
“This makes it harder to recoup enough to make the amount of time and money they have put into getting their qualifications pay off. But in other areas of law the picture is different.
“The number of people working in law firms may decrease in the future as AI takes over more tasks, but I think it is still a worthwhile career for young people to consider.
“The work can be interesting, varied, and intellectually stimulating, and I still enjoy it, nearly 30 years after I started.”
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This article first appeared in the February edition of Connect – pick up a free copy around the island or read the digital edition in full below… and check out previous editions here…
