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Duncan McNair (born 2 November 1955) is a commercial and corporate litigation lawyer and author, the youngest of seven children of Squadron Leader Robin McNair DFC and Bar; and Estelle (née Townsend) (see Surgeon-General Sir Edmond Townsend KCB, CB, CMG, RAMC, MA, MD, MCh).

McNair was educated at St Benedict’s School, Ealing and the University of Bristol where he was Vice President of the University Debating Union. He has practised City oriented litigation at Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), at Lawrence Graham and since 2012 at Cubism Law, specialising in major commercial and corporate litigation and public law cases, domestically and internationally.

In 2011 McNair acted for the successful third party interveners in A, B & C –v- Republic of Ireland, before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). It is a landmark case on the right to privacy under article 8 ECHR. It found that Ireland had violated the Convention by failing to provide an accessible and effective procedure by which a woman can have established whether she qualifies for a legal abortion under current Irish law.

In 2012 he again acted for successful interveners in BPAS –v- Secretary of State for Health, in the Administrative Court in London. He was named respectively ‘Lawyer in the News’ (Law Society Gazette) and ‘Lawyer of the Week’ (Times newspaper) for his conduct of these cases.

In 2012 McNair was appointed by the RSPCA to chair a national review of its Freedom Food farmed animal welfare assurance scheme. Serving on his Panel were former cabinet minister and Secretary of State at DEFRA, the Rt Hon Caroline Spelman MP, and Professor David Main BVetMed PhD MRCVS, Reader in Animal Welfare and Behaviour at the University of Bristol Veterinary School. Evidence was taken from all areas of animal food production, distribution and retail and from numerous interested groups. The McNair Report was presented in May 2013. Its recommendations were unanimously approved by the Council of Trustees of the RSPCA the following month.

McNair was appointed a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre (KHS) by the Catholic Church in 2002.

Books[edit]

McNair wrote the books The Morello Letters – Pen pal to the stars and More Morello Letters – Pen pal to the superstars under the pseudonym of Italian immigrant Mr Morello, a lover of all things British, who sometimes struggles to understand some of the more unusual aspects of British life, as an amusement for his nieces and nephews.

Morello's spoof letters end up on the doormats of some of the great and not so great institutions and individuals of our time – from Tony Blair, George W Bush, The Lord Chancellor, Richard Branson, and the Archbishop of Canterbury to Gordon Ramsay and The Bank of England. The letters and their replies offer a good-natured exploration of British customs and idiosyncrasies and are written with gentle and generous humour.

Bibliography[edit]

The Morello Letters – Pen pal to the stars (Harper Collins, 2006)
More Morello Letters – Pen pal to the superstars (Harper Collins, 2011).

References[edit]

"Lawyer of the week Duncan McNair". The Times. London. February 24, 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
"Bishop and Lord Mayor 'booked'." Coventry Evening Telegraph [England] 16 Dec. 2006: 2. Infotrac Newsstand. Last accessed August 29, 2013
"The King of the spoofs", Evening Post [Nottinghamshire] 9 September 2006: pg.18, Newspaper Source Plus.
Jonathan Rayner (6 January 2011). "Duncan McNair acted for pro-life campaigners over right to abortion". Law Society Gazette. Archived from the original on 8 January 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2013.

External Links[edit]

Morelloworld, book website
Duncan McNair, author website
The McNair Report
The RSPCA Freedom Food farmed animal welfare assurance scheme