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When she was diagnosed with cancer and couldn't work (she was a freelance), barristers held a musical benefit to help her financially. Last week she died, aged only 43. The famous Court 1 was crammed as the Old Bailey's top judge, the recorder of London, [Peter Carter-Ruck] Beaumont QC, delivered a moving valedictory eulogy for [Cynthia Grannum] - an honour usually reserved for eminent legal figures. It was exciting to see Counsel's Opinion, one of our legally named racehorses, achieving even greater fame on our news pages on Saturday. He was, it was reported, owned by Judge Jeremy Roberts QC of the Old Bailey, who had dealt knowledgeably and kindly with the case of a woman who'd gambled away pounds 460,000 of her employers' money via online betting.

So I applaud last week's judgment by the court of appeal to cap the amount that law firms representing libel litigants can charge defendants. Lord Justice Brooke criticised one firm, Peter Carter- Ruck, for the \"extravagant manner\" in which it had handled a libel claim brought against the Sunday Telegraph. In an eminently sensible decision, he contended that there should be a limit on the total costs that defendants would have to pay. That limit could be set in advance by a judge. The court was told that Carter-Ruck stood to double its money to more than pounds 700,000, under its no-win, no-fee arrangement. But if the Sunday Telegraph won its case, it would not retrieve any of its costs because Carter-Ruck's client had no funds himself. Yet the total legal costs would exceed pounds 1m. There was, the appeal judges said, a \"gulf between the value of this action to the claimant and its value to the lawyers\". None of this touches on the substantive matter of Musa King's action itself, which will be heard next month. Until it is over, Carter-Ruck will not comment on the appeal court ruling and Lord Justice Brooke's specific criticisms.

After criticising the \"extravagant\" manner in which the firm of Peter Carter-Ruck and Partners had handled a libel claim brought against the publishers of The Sunday Telegraph, Lord Justice Brooke said he would \"expect a costs judge to take an axe to certain elements of their charges if the matter ever proceeds to an assessment\". Lord Justice Brooke said: \"The obvious unfairness of such a system is bound to have the chilling effect on a newspaper exercising its right to freedom of expression of which [its lawyer] spoke in his witness statement and to lead to the danger of self- imposed restraints on publication which he so much feared.\" The court could not outlaw CFAs nor insist that claimants took out insurance. On the other hand, newspapers were entitled under the Human Rights Convention to freedom of expression. Capping costs was the only way to square the circle.

If Det Insp Oliver had won [Peter Carter-Ruck] would have had a fee likely to have amounted to more than the damages he would have received. Barton Taylor, the Carter-Ruck partner who represented Det Insp Oliver, said that conditional fee arrangements (CFA) - the formal name for no win, no fee - were \"essential to the interests of justice\". Det Insp Oliver became concerned that colleagues might have been conspiring to strengthen improperly the evidence against a Newcastle nurse who had been charged with attempted murder.

I was intimidated by [Peter Carter-Ruck] from day one. But Nigel Tait, a protege of Carter-Ruck and partner at the firm that Carter-Ruck left amid some acrimony in 1998, always found him, \"very approachable. He was very easy- going and even though he was a household name he would talk to anyone.\" I spoke to Carter-Ruck three or four times for this interview. Despite his initial reluctance he was courteous and helpful. He told me proudly of how he had built a stone croft in the Scottish Highlands from scratch, \"with the help of an excellent architect who was unable to get any work at the time, but was prepared to do the work with some of my ocean-racing crew and wife Ann.\" Carter-Ruck loved the croft, to which he would regularly retreat, so too ocean racing, though latterly he felt that ocean racing was, \"far more professional than amateur, that's why I prefer ocean cruising these days.\" He was a past Commodore of the Ocean Cruising Club. When I sent this piece to him, asking that he read it for factual accuracy only (he had first said he wouldn't talk to me until he had approved the copy for my profile), Carter-Ruck had just a couple of quibbles. One of these was my description of his voice as \"husky\". Having sent the copy, I felt a little compromised, but libel-free - and perhaps this as much as anything is Carter-Ruck's legacy. Those who write for a living know all too well the dread of an action for libel, and copy is changed every day to avoid legal risk. There are those who say this is a good thing, and those who think - in a world of instantaneous communication where the identity of a miscreant celebrity or politician will be known the world over in seconds - that we should all grow thicker skins.

Fleet Street editors grew to fear letters from Mr. [PETER CARTER-RUCK]. Among his favorite targets was the satirical magazine Private Eye, which he confronted on Randolph Churchill's behalf in the 1960s after it published a cartoon suggesting Churchill had hired ghostwriters to help him write a biography of his famous father.

Fleet Street editors grew to fear letters from [Peter Carter-Ruck]. Among his favorite targets was the satirical magazine Private Eye, which he confronted on Randolph Churchill's behalf in the 1960s after it published a cartoon suggesting Churchill had hired ghostwriters to help him write a biography of his famous father.

It was the first of many causes celebres. He managed to evict a sex therapist who had rented a flat from the then Tory chancellor Norman Lamont, and acted for Princess Elizabeth of Toro who, when Foreign Minister of Idi Amin's Uganda, was accused of seducing an unnamed European in a Paris airport toilet. The Princess won but famously queried his costs. From that case the famous Private Eye phrase 'Ugandan discussions' was born. Many of his legendary battles were against that satirical magazine,which loved to misspell the second half of his surname. Its editor, Ian Hislop, conceded [PETER CARTER-RUCK] won every case and said: 'I'd feel neglected if a few weeks went by without a letter from him.' The only high-profile case Carter-Ruck lost was when South African newspaper columnist Jani Allan sued Channel 4 over allegations she had an affair with extremist Afrikaan leader Eugene Terre Blanche and had been spied on through a keyhole. In the Eighties Carter-Ruck campaigned-against huge libel damages and believed legal aid should be extended to defamation. Clients wryly noted his feelings did not stop him netting huge fees 'charging like a wounded bull'.

Mr [Peter Carter-Ruck], who set up his own firm, Peter Carter-Ruck and Partners, in 1982, earned his reputation representing celebrities and public figures including Winston Churchill, Laurence Olivier, Spike Milligan, Harold Wilson, Cary Grant, Lucian Freud and Cecil Parkinson. Mr Carter-Ruck had a love-hate relationship with Private Eye despite his repeated successes against the publication. He was lampooned for years in its pages and any article concerning him always contrived to get one letter wrong in his surname. Mr Carter-Ruck retired from full-time litigation two years ago but continued to practise part-time at a local solicitors in Hertfordshire. His retirement from the firm he founded was clouded after he took legal advice himself after falling out with his fellow partners.

[Winston Churchill] told Mr [PETER CARTER-RUCK] that he had always thought the wheels of justice ground incredibly slowly - but \"you have broken all the records\" with a speedy service for clients. At the time of his death he was still actively involved in his City law firm, Peter Carter-Ruck and Partners, although he had not taken part personally in legal proceedings for 10 years.