Lord Brennan is Chair of the APPG on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, which is a cross-party grouping of MPs and Peers with Parliament focussed on discussing issues relating to the legal profession and the reform of the law and constitution.
He has an environmental, product liability and medical negligence practice involving multi-party actions such as the insurance claims from the Paddington rail crash, the combined oral contraceptive pill litigation and, in the past, the local residents' claims arising from the Canary Wharf development scheme, the HIV/haemophiliac claims against the UK government and the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster. Most recently he has appeared in the 'designer baby' appeal in the House of Lords.
On 19 November 2007 Brennan collapsed in the House of Lords shortly after concluding a speech on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. He was given a heart massage in the House of Lords by, among others, Ara Darzi, Baron Darzi of Denham, the health minister. He had urged the creation of a National Bioethics Commission. Lord Brennan spent time recovering at St Thomas' Hospital, London.[2][3]
On 3 December 2007, Lord Brennan again became unwell in the Chamber of the House of Lords. Having been fitted with a pacemaker at St Thomas' Hospital, he was thanking peers and staff who had been involved in the occasion when he was last taken ill when he fell back in his seat.[4]
Personal life
In 1968 he married a Spanish national, Pilar Sánchez Moya, with whom he has four sons.
A male griffin sejant Sable beaked rayed and forelegged Or holding in the beak a rose Gules seeded slipped and leaved Or.
Escutcheon
Or two pallets Gules over all a cross moline Sable between four harps sound boxes inwards those in base reversed Or.
Supporters
On either side a male griffin segreant Sable beaked rayed and forelegged Or and holding in the beak a rose Gules seeded slipped and leaved Or.
Motto
Si Deus Nobiscum Quis Contra Nos
Badge
Four pairs of harps Or the soundbox and pedal box of each conjoined Sable the whole in cross and conjoined in the centre point
Symbolism
Geographical emblems are found with the Irish harp, the red and gold pallets for Aragon and the red roses for Lancashire. The cross is used as a Christian emblem and the griffins relate to the name of the building in which the grantee has his chambers. The Badge combines both the Irish harp and a cross formation.