Introduction - i: Introduction: My Opening Speech Chapter - 1: Welcome to the Criminal Courtroom Chapter - 2: The Wild West: The Magistrates’ Court Chapter - 3: Imprisoning the Innocent: Remand and Bail Chapter - 4: Watching the Guilty Walk Free: Prosecuting on the Cheap Chapter - 5: The Devil’s Greatest Trick: Putting the Victim First Chapter - 6: Defenceless and Indefensible Chapter - 7: Legal Aid Myths and the Innocence Tax Chapter - 8: Trial on Trial: Part I – The Case Against Chapter - 9: Trial on Trial: Part II – The Case for the Defence Chapter - 10: The Big Sentencing Con Chapter - 11: The Courage of Our Convictions: Appeal Chapter - 12: My Closing Speech
An anonymous barrister offers a shocking, darkly comic and very moving journey through the legal system - and explains how it's failing all of us.
The Secret Barrister is a junior barrister specialising in criminal
law. The Secret Barrister writes for Solicitors Journal, New
Statesman and INews and has written pieces in The Times, the Sun,
the Mirror, Esquire and Huffington Post.
In 2016 and 2017, the Secret Barrister was named Independent
Blogger of the Year at the Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards.
By turns eye-opening, damning and hilarious, the secret barrister
lifts the lid on a legal system where the system, the politicians,
the lack of funding and sometimes the judges are the real villains
and the victims are all of us
*Tim Shipman, author of Fall Out and All Out
War*
Dishes the dirt — or serves up a slice of reality — on what
barristers do
*The Times*
The Secret Barrister can write...everyone who has any interest in
public life should read it...this is a book of some brilliance,
clearly explained, cogently argued
*Daily Mail*
What’s so powerful about The Secret Barrister is its ability to
connect the dots...revealing a picture that is more a commentary on
society as a whole than it is on robing rooms full of horsehair
wigs
*Guardian*
Takes the reader deep into the bowels of the criminal justice
system...the message of this entertaining book is delivered with
great skill...the book is at once a lament and a celebration...the
justice system as not just for criminals and victims but for all of
us - it is the symbol of our nation's humanity
*The Times*
Funny, frightening, frequently infuriating but above all profoundly
human. As a sensitive and knowledgeable storyteller, the Secret
Barrister does for lawyers what James Herriot did for vets
*James O'Brien*
Terrifying and occasionally hilarious... this is an eye-opening, if
depressing, account of the practice of law today. Perhaps there is
hope, but the author leaves us in no doubt that urgent reform is
needed
*The Observer*
This excellent book will hopefully raise awareness of what has
been, until now, a silent crisis. It is at once a vicious polemic,
a helpful primer and a cringe-inducing account of one barrister's
travails
*Daily Telegraph*
Funny, angry, mordant, social satire, reform manifesto – The Secret
Barrister offers them all in this legal tour de force. Told through
often heart-rending stories of victims and victors in a game of
legal roulette, a quest for decency and proper standards of legal
service shines through the bleakness. If the Secret Barrister has
her or his way, it might happen a bit more often. Read this book,
hope and pray
*Andrew Adonis*
Its stories of how the law often fails those whom it is meant to
protect – how do barristers feel when someone they believe to be
innocent gets banged up for five years? – make for gripping
reading.
*The Guardian*
Fluently and engagingly written...a copy of this book should be
placed on the desk of every judge, every trainee lawyer, every
would-be lawyer, every politician, and every minister responsible
for the legal system
*The Literary Review*
Stories of The Law and How It's Broken is mordantly clear,
chillingly well-observed and terrifyingly funny. I have rarely read
a book that filled me with greater fury. Read this, give it to
friends, share the Secret Barrister's testimony with strangers -
it's a rare and righteous thing
*A.L.Kennedy, Booker-listed author of Serious
Sweet*
An illuminating and timely insight into the legal system,
transforming arcane practice into accessible and fascinating
anecdote
*Sunday Express*
An expert and eloquent account of much that has gone wrong with our
criminal law procedures: this book is accurate, informative and
sensibly points the way to pragmatic reforms
*Geoffrey Robertson QC, author of The Justice
Game*
I suggest that the Leader of the House and all members of the
Government read the book by the Secret Barrister
*Valerie Vaz, MP, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons*
Behold, the book that got me through jury service! A timely and
accessible look at today's UK court system, this is a no nonsense
explainer on how things work, very much don't work, and how we got
here. Who knew that educating yourself about, for example, the
history of magistrates, could be so much fun?
*Alexandra Heminsley, The Pool*
Wickedly funny and deadly serious, this brilliant book is an
essential read for anyone who cares about justice, fairness and
equality before the law. If you felt these things were safe, the
Secret Barrister will leave you stunned and aghast at a criminal
justice system absolutely broken by cuts across the board,
frequently dishing out a travesty of justice. Impassioned, searing
and utterly compelling
*Rachel Clarke, author of Your Life in My Hands*
A brilliant but deeply disturbing book. Using the legal cases of
real people, it shows how our criminal justice system is so broken,
the innocent end up behind bars while the guilty walk free
*Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and Co-leader of
the Green Party*
Powerful points are expressed in a funny but penetrating way: the
barrister weaves personal experience with his or her most memorable
cases and clients...after you’ve chuckled to yourself, it forces
you to reflect on its real meaning
*Prospect Magazine*
I've read an absolutely amazing, gripping book by The Secret
Barrister...it's a bestselling book which is spread, I think, by
word of mouth, about their experiences as a criminal barrister...I
found it incredibly informative, a must read
*Ed Miliband, Reasons to be Cheerful podcast*
The blogger's much-anticipated book is a rallying cry against short
sighted governments and an apathetic public...With clarity and
eloquence the dozen angry, passionate, frustrated chapters shout
their unanimous and damning verdict on a system “close to breaking
point”...the book certainly deserves a wider audience
*The Brief, The Times*
Essential reading for those in, and outside, the law
*The Criminal Bar Association*
One of the legal blogosphere's hottest properties
*The Times on The Secret Barrister Blog*
Completely riveting . . . it reveals the good and bad in human
beings
*The Bookseller - One to Watch*
Indispensable
*Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times - on The Secret Barrister Blog*
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