November 2, 2023
Tony Shaw KC has stepped down after 35 years as a practitioner editor for Archbold.
The preface acknowledged his contribution by saying that “The book will be the poorer for losing Tony’s input and wise words.”
Tony’s focus had been on chapters on identification and conspiracy over the past few decades, although he edited a number of other chapters in earlier years. He introduced and edited the “Almanac” at a time when internet access was rare. He also wrote from scratch and edited for many years “Appendix G- Guidelines on Claims for Fees under a Crown Court Representation Order and in the Court of Appeal”. In addition, he was co-opted onto the Bar Council to negotiate with the MoJ on the development of the Graduated Fee Scheme which was introduced in 1997 for trials lasting up to 10 days. Upon stepping down he said:
“Being invited to join the Archbold team in 1983 was a great honour, and I thoroughly enjoyed my years working as a practitioner editor. The only disadvantage was the convention that barristers should never cite the works/chapters for which they are responsible, without telling the court of their involvement. I usually managed to avoid that by going directly to the case law. However, on one occasion when running an argument on privilege, and my opponent pointed out to the trial judge that something different was proposed in Archbold and that it was a chapter which Mr Shaw edited. I replied that I was comforted that at least one of me was right.”