The sense of shock amongst lawyers and others concerned with the rights of children and those with impaired decision-making capacity at the announcement of the sudden death on New Year’s Day of Sir James Munby is palpable. I share it. I was, the morning I learned of it, writing a book chapter directly inspired by a lecture that he gave, and could hear him with particular vividness (it was an unusual ability to be able to both boom and twinkle at the same time, something he had a particular habit of doing when catching my eye and telling me that I was flat wrong about something about which we both had strongly held but different views). Many others have written tributes, and others will no doubt be forthcoming, but I wanted to record my own gratitude for all that he did to support the Court of Protection (and, alongside that, those working around it, including by writing the foreword to the first edition of the Legal Action Group’s Court of Protection Handbook).
I can only imagine how his friends and family are feeling, and send them my deepest condolences.
