Tadhgh Barwell O’Connor

2022 British Pegasus Scholar Report

I was told by everyone who had been before this would be a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience. They were absolutely right. Unfortunately, the space available here is barely enough to scratch the surface but I’ve tried to pick out a few of the highlights and most interesting or intriguing points so those who are interested in going in the future have at least a glimpse of what awaits them should they be lucky enough to be selected.

We started out with a few days in D.C., or more appropriately the “DMV” (District of Columbia, and the areas of Maryland, and Virginia that are now commuter belt areas for D.C. itself) staying with the endlessly generous Ellen and Tim Delsolle. The morning after Richard Schimel’s whistlestop tour of all of the major monuments (Americans love marble, extra points if it’s uniformly white) we spent our first day watching oral arguments at the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) – also almost entirely marble and white. Being a Family practitioner, I did not have high hopes for the first case which was about Proposition 12 in California and the size of sow pens for rearing piglets, but I was totally wrong. The complex nature of the arguments (interstate trade, state vs federal power, consumer rights on both sides) and the dynamic questioning from all nine judges with time limited submissions was fascinating. The evident change when the second case was called on was also intriguing. The statute of limitations on applying for DNA evidence in a Texan capital punishment case certainly seemed less divisive for the bench.

Next, we were in Sacramento, in Northern California (the state’s capital) where we were introduced to pretty much everyone you could possibly need to meet to run an effective political campaign. Our organiser, Justice Art Scotland from the Anthony M. Kennedy American Inn of Court and ex-Presiding Justice of the Third District Court of Appeals, arranged the best possible schedule: from learning of the inspiring story of Judge Andi Mudryk, one of America’s first transgender judges, to Anne Marie Schubert, the Sacramento District Attorney, who brought the first charge against a John Doe using just his DNA (eventually leading to a successful prosecution which would have otherwise been limitation barred). We stayed with Parker White and Dr. Carole and their wonderful menagerie (three dogs and cat). As a break from the meetings, Parker took us up to his family’s lake house by Lake Tahoe for a weekend of pine scented fresh air, runs with lots of stops to take photos, and speedboating across an almost perfectly flat and practically deserted lake. Mid-October is not usually as warm and welcoming in those mountains, but we had the sun, warmth, and some of the very best food all right on the lake front. To get us down to San Francisco, our last stop in California, we somehow managed to fit three of us into the stretch limousine and hightailed it down past San Quentin. We met with the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who managed a very successful campaign of rebuilding and better financing for the Judicial Estate – something I think many judges in the UK could only dream of even being permitted to try to do. We saw such a wide range of landscapes, advocacy (think animated power point presentations!), and judicial office holders in just 9 days and left wanting to see even more of the Golden State.

Our next stop was Boston, Massachusetts, hosted by the Boston American Inn of Court and guided by our brilliant host (and soon to be English Barrister) John Burke. New England was obviously much more reminiscent of, well, England – brick buildings, the same endemic scepticism of West Coast positivity, and the rain/fog – we felt right at home. We were very lucky to be in the area just as the ‘Fall’ colours were hitting their peak and the bright yellow to burnt umbers with every possible red and orange in between were glorious. Our visit to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum was quietly inspiring and I adored the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as a stunning but peaceful sanctuary in the middle of a bustling city. We bagged yet another State Supreme Court – this time the Judicial Supreme Court in Massachusetts (older than SCOTUS) and were shown the deliberation room behind the fancy drape curtains US justices seemingly always appear from behind. A real highlight was our day in the Attorney General’s Office (who has now been elected as the first out LGBTQ+ Governor of Massachusetts). A delicious breakfast in their in-house greasy spoon was followed by tours of cyber and gang crime units –boards setting out all of the different names/languages for specific substances and their rising or dropping popularity was amazing. I loved the New England Fall, the drive through New Hampshire (Motto: “Live Free or Die”, where there are no seatbelt or motorcycle helmet requirements…) and up into Maine where we were hosted by Judge Pearson, who makes absolutely the best clam chowder! Again, time was too short, but I walked the freedom trail and had at least one American admit the whole revolution thing was because they just wanted to dodge some taxes.

Back to the DMV with some eye-opening time spent in Family and Domestic Violence Courts in Maryland. Unlike in England, most of their family matters take place in open court, with cases all listed simultaneously so everyone is piled in at the back of the court waiting to be called on. Sometimes there are children sitting at the back playing on a phone while two complete strangers in another case make serious allegations barely four meters away. Likewise, cases can be allotted just 15 minutes sometimes for non-evidentiary hearings which gave this long-winded, overly verbose barrister a serious scare. However, no one was cut off mid-sentence during our visits at least. Another trip to SCOTUS took in an international tax matter and we also got to spend time in one of the ‘Oath Keepers’ hearings concerning the events of January 6th ‘action’/‘insurrection’/‘riot’/‘coup’ accompanied by Jesse Binnall (who’s wonderful team took the lead on the D.C. programme) which made out subsequent visit to the Capitol quite eerie. The rules concerning conflicts meant that only one defendant had the benefit of the apparently excellent D.C. public defenders meaning the others had to find private defence counsel – something lots of them had seriously struggled to do. We had some fantastic down time too: Southern Maryland with Judge Nyce and Cathy in a marvellously decorated colonial era farm right at the meeting point of the Potomac and Wicomico rivers; a morning trekking in a forest of entirely bare tree limbs but a ground of bright orange leaves ended in a long afternoon sampling Paradise Springs vineyard’s local vintage with more food than we could ever possibly eat; and we visited the White House, Mount Vernon, and almost all of the central Smithsonian museums and National Archives. This was an education not just in American law but also culture and history.

Our final stop was in Denver, Colorado – the Centennial State. Having taken in both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts it only seemed right to end with the spine of the country and the Great Central Divide. Finally, my pessimistic packing paid off: from the balmy mid 30 degrees of Sacramento it got down to minus 12 in Denver. Though everyone was keen to reassure us that there are 300+ days of sun per year! Dr. Becky Bye with others at the Judge William E. Doyle American Inn of Court was a brilliant guide and ferried us around to courts and attorney’s firms, as was our host, Liz Krupa, who gave us a fascinating insight into judicial appointments, ethics, and investigations. The morning spent at the Federal Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit was far faster in pace than a day at the RCJ – in just three hours we saw five hearings – only being permitted oral arguments 15 minutes long (if permitted any at all) speeds things up nicely. Denver and Boulder in the snow (one of the first snowfalls of the year) was unbelievably beautiful: deer, black squirrels, and snow capped mountains as far as we could see. We also got to have a ‘Family Law Practitioners Only’ dinner where all of our very specific and incredibly geeky questions could be posed and answered with great detail. Humans are humans on both sides of the pond but child friendly judgments are something both attorneys and judges were keen to hear a lot about.

Some friends who are also ‘junior juniors’ thought I was mad to take six weeks out of a busy diary when I could have been earning money and sampling the delights of family courts across the South East but I could not be happier to have taken this opportunity. While I was away, I met with three firms specialising in International Family Law work. It’s an area in which I have a growing practice and their advice has already proven invaluable on a case I had the week I returned concerning a possible removal to the US. I have arranged to see some of those lawyers when they are in London before Christmas and hope to continue to foster such friendly working relationships going forward. The lawyers and judges we met were incredibly friendly and impressively welcoming. I was so pleased with their frank appraisals of their practices, the benefits and negatives to their systems, and not only were they interesting they were all so interested in learning what they could from us. I’ve lost count of how many invitations I had to return (even with my husband) and stay with people – they were frankly stunned at our schedule and how much we were able to pack into the trip and keen for us to see the calmer side of each location too. I look forward to seeing people I met out there in London and hope to be able to return their incredibly kind hospitality.

Some of the biggest takeaways for me were:

• Judicial election is definitely strange. No matter where we went or who we spoke to everyone agreed but it is stubbornly persistent in its differing forms across the states – from outright election to retention ballots.
• It looks like becoming a judge in the US is a much better deal – all judges in the states we visited appear to get their own chambers (which are as nice as those at the RCJ). The courts are generally well-built and well-maintained, with ample administrative staff and up to date tech equipment. That means their judges are making the decisions that judges need to make not painstakingly dialling in each person to a remote telephone hearing.
• Lawyers change jobs, often quite frequently and to entirely different roles. From Assistant District Attorneys straight out of law school to government advisors to PI to in-house with charities. That variety of roles over a career or holding more than one at the same time seems much more common and the opportunity to develop multiple skillsets is really interesting.

If you have the chance to apply for any of the Pegasus placements—you absolutely should. But I’d strongly recommend going to America. They host scholars in such style and provide such amazing access – I can’t think how it could ever be beaten. Special thanks to all of our hosts, to General Dunn and Cindy Dennis at the American Inns of Court for their amazing work putting together the entire programme, each Inn we visited, and everyone who took time out of their hectic lawyer schedules to answer our questions and explain their roles. We had a wonderful time and I wish I could go all over again.

Tadhgh Barwell O’Connor is a barrister at 1KBW (1 King’s Bench Walk), a leading set of Chambers specialising in family law based in Temple, London. He works across cases concerning finances upon separation, private children disputes, with a particular interest in international children law such as that concerning the Hague Convention and international child abduction cases which are mostly heard in the Family Division of the High Court in the Royal Courts of Justice. He was shortlisted for the Family Law Awards 2021 Young Barrister of Year and Young Pro Bono Barrister of the Year 2021.

O'Connor read English at St John’s College, University of Cambridge, before working as an Actor and Education Consultant. He completed the Graduate Diploma in Law at City, University of London, gained an ‘Outstanding’ grade in his Bar exams, and was called to the bar in 2019 as a Hardwicke, Lord Haldane, Lord Denning, and Buchanan scholar of The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn. He is a keen mentor working across a range of legal student groups and passionate about promoting access to the legal professions.

Outside law, O'Connoris the Vice-Chair of Governors for Evelina Children’s Hospital School and proud spouse to a serving British Army Officer. His interests include the performing arts, Spanish language and culture, and transatlantic politics.