Print this Page
Donald’s early career was interrupted by being called up for
military service straight from school, during World War II.
He opted for the RAF and acquired his first interest in technical
matters as an air navigator. He was fortunate to be still in
reserve at the end of the war and, after demobilisation, went up to
King’s College London to read history.
After graduating he opted for law, being called to the Bar at
Lincoln’s Inn, and entered Chambers as the pupil of John Plume, a
Landlord and Tenant specialist. This work led to an interest
in dilapidations cases and then building contracts. There was
no current up-to-date book on the subject (the 7th Edition of
Hudson had been published in 1946) and so Donald took the
unprecedented step of writing a book of his own. Keating’s
“Law and Practice of Building Contracts” was first
published in 1955 when the author had been in practice for all of
five years. The book was well received and has substantially
retained its original format, now through seven editions with an
eighth edition scheduled for publication in 2006. Donald was
solely responsible for the first four editions up to 1978 and
handed over the fifth and six editions to Anthony May QC, now Lord
Justice May. After May’s elevation to the High Court the
seventh and eighth editions have been undertaken by Stephen Furst
QC and Vivian Ramsey QC the latter also being appointed to the High
Court Bench in 2005. Keating on Building Contracts is now,
however, a collective Chambers publication involving contributions
from 15 or more additional members of Keating Chambers.
Despite the success of his book, Donald Keating’s early career
was neither easy nor assured. Life at the Bar in the 1950s
was uncertain and it was only in the 1960s that a recognisable
“Construction Bar” emerged which could devote the majority
of its time to this specialised area. It was in this period
that Donald Keating began to undertake a good proportion of the
leading cases, usually starting before the Official Referees and
not infrequently reaching The House of Lords. These included
Gloucester County Council v
Richardson (1969), Northwest
Metropolitan Hospital Board v Bickerton (1970) and
Jarvis v Westminster City Council
(1971). It was shortly after this that Donald was instructed
in the Mitchell v East Anglia Regional
Hospital Board Arbitration, a case which was to break all
records, and still figures in the Guinness Book of Records as the
longest commercial arbitration at 239 days. Donald succeeded
in winning the case against two senior Silks from other
Chambers. Strangely, at the beginning of Mitchell Donald was still a junior, the award of
Silk to specialists being comparatively rare. Only in 1972
did Donald finally become a QC, although once the taboo was lifted
Keating Chambers rapidly acquired the substantial number of QCs
which it has sported ever since.
Donald’s later career involved many substantial arbitrations and
court cases. He was one of the early pioneers to conduct
cases in the Far East (Hong Kong and Singapore) and in the
Caribbean as well as cases in Paris and elsewhere in Europe.
Most of all, however, he continued to relish trips to The House of
Lords. These included Sutcliffe v
Thackrah (1974) which reaffirmed the duty of certifiers, and
his last case Alghussein v Eton
College (1988) discussing the origin of the principle that a
party to a contract cannot take advantage of his own
breach.
Donald Keating was Head of Chambers in succession to the late
Colonel Stuart Horner, from 1975 to 1992. During this time
Chambers expanded substantially and became progressively more
specialised in building, engineering and other technical work, as
well as moving from the cramped accommodation in the Temple which
it had long outgrown, to new and spacious commercial premises in
Essex Street. Upon Donald’s retirement as its Head, Chambers
resolved to adopt the style Keating Chambers which was
appropriately celebrated by the commissioning of Donald’s portrait
by June Mendoza which now hangs in Chambers Reception to keep a
watching eye on all that goes on. Donald Keating died on 1st
August 1995 at the age of 71 while still very much in
harness. As well as adopting his name, Chambers organises an
occasional series of commemorative lectures the first three of
which have been delivered by Sir Michael Kerr, Lord Phillips and
Lord Hoffmann.