Pat Finucane

Prof Phil Shiner
So Phil Shiner, though the preferred title was always Prof Phil Shiner has been struck off the register of solicitors. His fall from grace, the detail, is given in the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) account and no doubt legal journals will rake over the ashes as they please. Although the legal profession might not be the same as the legal journals the latter have taken a very long time to face up to the reality of the Shiner case. First, they said he was being hounded for what he did, he was a victim. Then later on when it was clear what he had done was wrong, there was the bluster. When the game was up and the truth coming out we had silence. Parts of the case are to be heard later this year so we still await the full condemnation. But we may assume eventually it will be clear that he lost! At first Shiner was a poster-boy for the legal profession and they loved him. But now the truth is out, and you would have though the truth was important in legal matters, but they back away only to hide behind a veil of conspiracy theories. For example the government wants to 'do away' with the type of work Shiner did and have concocted this case to discredit it.