Bounteous felicitations to Robert Jay QC, bearded Leveson inquiry star and walking thesaurus, on winning barrister of the year at the Lawyer awards on Tuesday night. Jay was up against Hugh Tomlinson (the lead counsel for the phone-hacking victims in civil litigation against News International) and Charlie Gibson, his old foe from the Trafigura court case. Mark Lewis was runner-up in his category, partner of the year, despite leading the legal challenge to News International on behalf of phone-hacking victims. And just to avoid any of that pesky inaccurate reporting that so vexes Lord Justice Leveson, Monkey would like to make it clear the cancellation of Wednesday's directions hearing for the inquiry's module four, on the future of press regulation, has absolutely nothing to do with any delirium tremens the Jayster may or may not be suffering. Leveson cancelled the hearing on Tuesday afternoon, having decided to take submissions for the last module of his inquiry by email instead of in person.
