UK law cleaned up by soap

As most of you will be aware, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) last week issued a historic judgment in the case of Goodwin & I v UK. After almost 50 years of case judgments in the UK and the ECHR that have failed to protect transsexual people's rights, the ECHR last week ruled that UK law violates both Article 8 (the right to private and family life) and Article 12 (the right to marry).
However, what you might perhaps not know is that one of the key ingredients to this success was lead counsel Laura Cox QC's love of Coronation Street. Tulkinghorn understands that Cox, head of chambers at Cloisters, is an avid fan of the much-loved soap. Cox used her in-depth knowledge of Corrie by using the story of one of the show's stars, transsexual Hayley, to demonstrate to the ECHR that what is socially acceptable has changed.
For those of you who do not follow the show, Hayley has become an integral character, much loved on the street, but who was thwarted in her bid to marry Roy (who runs the local café) by UK law. It serves as fair warning to all lawyers that even time spent watching television is billable.