Seymour Hersh is one of the greatest investigative journalists of the modern era. I have been lucky enough to meet him a few times as one of my favourite cousins was his lawyer and close friend. Acting as Sy’s lawyer was a challenging and fascinating role. Decade after decade Sy broke stories, landed amazing scoops, challenged successive governments and held authority to account. Very often he was working as an independent freelance journalist which made the potential legal risks even greater.

One of the earliest stories that Sy broke back in 1969 was the My Lai massacre, which marked a turning point in American perception of the Vietnam war. Last week my cousin very sadly died and Sy has written this moving  tribute to him in the New Yorker which describes the relationship between journalist and lawyer.