10.18 am

A hazy sky spread outside the office window, sun fighting its way through the clouds and losing. The light filters through the two small glass jars with water on my desk. One holds an avocado seed, propped up with toothpicks. There is a small protrusion in the bottom that was not there yesterday. The other holds a hyacinth, inherited from the former inhabitant of this office. The water in this jar is cloudy, almost obscuring the white roots that look like the arms of a sea anemone. The hyacinth has been taking its time in the blooming. When I came into the office yesterday, the tight green leaves had opened a little further, almost enough to reveal the tightly concealed flower.

4.32 pm

A whirlwind day of Court hearings and briefing papers, interspersed with discussions of legal nuances. I’m happiest when I’m struggling to understand what these Courts have decided and why. It’s more than simply the intellectual exercise. These courts are so new, their jurisprudence still so unsettled, that there’s much more room for legitimate disagreement than with the U.S. courts. The Supreme Court has to stick with the precedent it created 200 years ago. These courts struggle to find a balance between following good precedent and disregarding bad. It’s the struggle that makes it so interesting.