The panel have found none of the allegations proven…

It’s deeply satisfying to hear those words when representing a registrant, and even more satisfying to see the face of your client when those words are uttered by a panel.

I recently concluded a 5 day NMC fitness to practise case for a registrant facing allegations of physical and verbal abuse of a vulnerable patient. My client had endured the weight of the proceedings on their shoulders for three long years, with interim restriction imposed and then revoked on review.

The hearing was conducted as a hybrid, with the panel, legal assessor and case presenter in person at the hearing centre, and me, my client and the regulator’s witnesses appearing by Teams.

I don’t like these hybrid hearings - the sound quality is often bad, and I can’t see the panel very well!

But one of the benefits of them is that it is easier to see the client’s reactions - to questions, to evidence, and to the panel’s decisions.

To see my client’s whole body response to the panel’s verdict was profoundly touching. We must stay professional of course, but it is difficult to avoid being affected by the strength of a registrant’s emotions, when you completely identify with what was at stake for them.

I don’t spend any time at all in business development meetings or such like. I guess that’s why I’m not a “fat cat” lawyer (although enough clients find me to keep me busy) - but what I am is blessed to love my work, seeing cases through from start to finish and often enough hearing those lovely, lovely words…