Pictured: John Randall QC

John Randall QC of St Philips Barristers Chambers, Birmingham, was one of the finalists in the prestigious 'Inner Temple Book Prize' 2011. The Prize, established in 2008 as part of the Inner Temple's celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the grant by King James I of the Temple's Royal Charter, is for books published in the English language which make an outstanding scholarly contribution to the understanding of the law as administered in England and Wales.

Mr Randall co-wrote the book 'The Tort of Conversion' with Sarah Green, an academic now at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Their work was chosen from over a hundred entries as one of the finalists for the main prize in this triennial competition. 

The judging panel, chaired by the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, also included two Supreme Court Judges, four Lords Justices of Appeal, a former President of the International Court of Justice, and professors of law from Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

At the awards ceremony on 8 December 2011, Mr Randall and the other finalists were each presented with an engraved glass book by HRH The Princess Royal. The winner of the £10,000 main prize was Professor Halliday of Harvard University, for his book on Habeas Corpus.

Mr Randall, a Queen's Counsel and Chairman of the Commercial Practice Group at St Philips Barristers Chambers, said: "I was very honoured to be a finalist in this prestigious award. The judging panel was of an extraordinarily high calibre, and the overall winner was a most deserving book. The fact that all four of the other finalists were works published in England is a testament to the high standard of legal writing in this country."