Sights set on Judicial Success

By Sir John Wall CBE

Sir John Wall. CBE was the first blind person in modern times to be appointed Deputy High Court Master in 1990 until his retirement at the end of 2002. Sir John's blindness meant that he encountered many obstacles during his distinguished career. It is a tribute to his determination to succeed that he was able to become a solicitor and then proceed to the Bench.

The first obstacle that Sir John had to overcome was finding a firm that would actually give him a job. He applied to some 400 firms and had 53 interviews before finally being offered a post.

It would be comforting to believe that employers nowadays are less suspicious of the disabled, but it would seem that this isn't always the case. "Things haven't got a great deal better," says Sir John. "A recent Royal National Institute for the Deaf survey revealed that 73% of employers would decline to take on a blind person and 70% a deaf person. In contrast, just 50% of them would refuse someone with a criminal record ... "

Sir John successfully qualified as a solicitor in 1954, and he worked from '1956 to '1974 in the legal department of the National and Local Government Officers Association.

At NALGO he made his first attempt to join the judiciary. "I got turned down," he says. "The reasons given were that, as a blind person, I wouldn't be able to observe the demeanour of witnesses, couldn't read documents and generally wouldn't inspire the public with confidence."

In 1974, Sir John left NALGO to join the law firm of Middleton Lewis, which subsequently merged with Lawrence Graham - a firm that now has some 80 partners. In '1990; he applied again to the Lord Chancellor's Department to become a judge. He was listened to this time and allowed to become a Deputy Chancery Master working beside a Chief Master for one week. This was followed by another week sitting by himself as a temporary Deputy.

The rest is history. He was formally appointed in February '1991; an event that was reported in a number of newspapers, including The Times and The Daily Telegraph. And he served with great distinction until the day he retired in late 2002.
But was his blindness a considerable hindrance where his judicial duties were concerned? Or did he feel that he fulfilled his duties as competently as a sighted person?

"If you were an adult and lost your eyesight over night, then you would be utterly disorientated," he replies. "But if you lost your sight a long time ago, like I did at the age of eight, then you have developed all sorts of ways of compensating.

"Maybe I couldn't observe the demeanour of witnesses, for instance, but I could judge them by their tone of voice. In fact, it can sometimes be very helpful not to be prejudiced by appearances,"

Thinking back on his career, did Sir John find it fulfilling? "Very much so. I enjoyed being a solicitor and was very well paid for my pains. But being a Master was even more interesting. All the relevant facts are given to you by the two counsels and you rarely find yourself spending weeks on the same case - so there's plenty of variety."

In June 1994, Sir John was awarded a CBE by HM the Queen in recognition of services to visually impaired people and was made Knight Bachelor in June 2000.