The Lawyer Inquiry: Robert Webb QC

Robert Webb QC was born in Kent on 4 October 1948. He is now head of chambers at 5 Bell Yard.



What was your first job?

Working on a milk round on a cart drawn by a horse called Dolly.



What was your first ever salary as a lawyer?

£872 in year one (1972).



What would you have done if you hadn't become a lawyer?

Produced plays - and tried to write novels.



Which law could you live without?

The Rules of the Supreme Court; something shorter would do.



What was your most embarrassing professional moment?

My second case. Asked to get leave to go to the House of Lords on behalf of my absent pupil master, I was too nervous to get up until all three of the Court of Appeal judges had gone out. I can remember their comments now when we called them all back. Judges seemed fiercer then.



What car do you drive?

An old two-seater Mercedes (more an icon than a vehicle).



Which famous person would you like to go out with?

Anyone my sons have heard of, provided I can be home by 9pm.



Where would you go to eat?

Japanese teppan yaki or oysters, anywhere.



What's the best thing on TV?

Golf and The Brittas Empire (for chambers reasons).



Which movie do you wish you'd appeared in?

The Third Man or High Noon.



What's your most often worn piece of clothing?

My suit, unfortunately.



What books are you reading at the minute?

Look at it this way by Justin Cartwright; Boswell's Life of Johnson.



What's your all-time favourite record?

He's dead but he won't lie down by Gracie Fields or possibly Astral Weeks by Van Morrison.



What piece of advice would you give to anyone entering the profession now?

Don't bother to talk too much; listen to the market and to clients - they know more than we think!



What do you like about yourself?

When disasters occur, as they frequently still do, I do not mind as much as I did.



What do you hate about yourself?

I cannot look smart.



Where would you like to be right now?

Leaving court and going out to lunch - not having been called on, in the light of my skeleton...dream on!