At Oxford he became a close personal friend of Tony Benn. In 1949 he was best man at Benn's wedding.[2]
After Oxford he spent a year at the University of Chicago as a teaching fellow, where he met and married Ann Ruether, a Chicago native who was part of the University faculty.[2]
He was appointed chairman of the Law Commission from 1981 to 1985, after stepping down from that role was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal for a period of nine years after that.[2]
As a barrister, his obituary recorded that he was noted for his "rapid wit and rigorous research".[2] He was also noted as "an open-minded and sympathetic judge".[1] He reportedly once gave a robber a suspended sentence after being told that the defendant had donated a kidney to save his sister's life.[1]
As a Law Commissioner one of his notable contributions to English law was the Law Commission's proposals which led to "clean break" divorces.[2]
