The art of judgment writing

A judge offers advice — but does he follow it?

Writing a book called The Art and Craft of Judgment Writing is a rash thing to do for a serving judge. Any reviewer will begin by scouring the judge’s past rulings for infelicities and solecisms.

In the case of Max Barrett PhD, whose new book is subtitled A Primer for Common Law Judges, there are already more than 500 judgments to choose from. Mr Justice Barrett, 50, was appointed to the High Court of Ireland eight years ago and is now the designated judge for competition matters.