Charles Rann Kennedy

Charles Rann Kennedy (1808 – 17 December 1867) was an English lawyer and classicist, best remembered for his involvement in the Swinfen will case and the issues of contingency fee agreements and legal ethics that it involved.

He entered Lincoln's Inn, was called to the bar in 1835, became a barrister, and settled at Birmingham.

[2] In his academic role, he advised the judge Lord Denman in the important parliamentary privilege case of Stockdale v.

[3] As counsel to Mrs Swinfen, the plaintiff in the celebrated will case Swinfen v. Swinfen (1856), he brought an action for remuneration for professional services, but the verdict given in his favour at Warwick assizes was set aside by the court of Common Pleas, on the ground that a barrister could not sue for the recovery of his fees.

[4][2] His grandson, also named Charles Rann Kennedy (1871–1950), was a playwright and actor who married actress Edith Wynne Matthison.