Day 289 - 29 Oct 96 - Page 40
1 MS. STEEL: Mr. Morris.
2
3 MR. MORRIS: It depends which one I am ready to do, really.
4
5 MR JUSTICE BELL: I think you ought to pick your target,
6 whichever one it is. What I would like to do is, do your
7 best to finish rearing and slaughter, but I would like
8 Mr. Morris to be ready to go on to the next topic either
9 without a break or with a minimum break after you have
10 finished. I make one point: I know you both set great
11 stock by being both here at the same time. I do not know
12 whether that was necessary when the witnesses were actually
13 giving evidence, and I certainly do not think it is
14 necessary, if you trusted one or other of you to deal with
15 a particular topic.
16
17 MS. STEEL: The thing is that we have not had a chance to
18 discuss any of what either of us is saying in court, so
19 both of us feel that we do want to be here.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is entirely up to you. But it is not a
22 view which I would share. I would have thought -- and
23 I think this is a particularly good example -- I would have
24 thought that if there was any area where you are competent
25 to get on with it without any help from Mr. Morris, it is
26 rearing and slaughter. If there is any area, for instance,
27 where he is competent to get on with it without, really,
28 any help from you which is going to make any difference, it
29 is employment. There may well be other areas where you can
30 divide it up. You are entitled to go your own way, in the
31 sense of saying, "We both want to be here for particular
32 things", or, "We both want to listen rather than get on,
33 sitting in the back of the court somewhere, and doing
34 preparation work, or even outside doing preparation work",
35 but it is not a view I share that it is absolutely
36 necessary.
37
38 MS. STEEL: I think the thing is that because we are both
39 separate parties in this case, we do feel it is important
40 that we are both here to represent our own interests, which
41 are not always -- we are not always in hundred percent
42 agreement over everything. Throughout the course of the
43 day, legal arguments do come up about, for example, meaning
44 and comment, and things like that; and if we are not here,
45 we have to read the transcript at some point, which is
46 three weeks later at least; and, basically, it means we are
47 not really up on, you know, what has been going on in court
48 and what has been said, and that can only mean that, at the
49 end of the day, we may miss things out which were important
50 to raise.
51
52 MR JUSTICE BELL: I think that is highly unlikely. If a point
53 of principle arises, it can be marked and I can flag my
54 notebook and we can come back to it, and I can summarise
55 what the nature of the argument was. Anyway, as I have
56 said more than once -- I do not want to keep harping on
57 about it -- you know how long you have got; you have to
58 organise yourselves so that you get through the main points
59 within the time which is available. If you do get out
60 notes of Miss Druce overnight, obviously that will be
