Singapore’s High Court has rejected the application of Debevoise & Plimpton partner and former U.K. attorney general Lord Goldsmith QC to be admitted to represent a gay couple seeking to overturn Singapore’s law banning male homosexual sex.

In his Sept. 18 decision, Justice V. K. Rajah said that, though Lord Goldsmith was clearly well-qualified, there was no “special reason” that would justify the appointment of a foreign counsel in this case.