The Secret Barrister
Synopsis
An anonymous barrister's darkly comic and moving first-hand account of life in the legal system, and how it's failing us all.
The Sunday Times number one bestseller.
Winner of the Books are My Bag Non-Fiction Award.
Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year.
Shortlisted for Specsavers Non-Fiction Book of the Year.
‘Eye-opening, funny and horrifying’ – Observer
You may not wish to think about it, but one day you or someone you love will almost certainly appear in a criminal courtroom. You might be a juror, a victim, a witness or – perhaps through no fault of your own – a defendant. Whatever your role, you’d expect a fair trial.
I’m a barrister. I work in the criminal justice system, and every day I see how fairness is not guaranteed. Too often the system fails those it is meant to protect. The innocent are wronged and the guilty allowed to walk free.
In The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken I want to share some stories from my daily life to show you how the system is broken, who broke it and why we should start caring before it’s too late.
A Sunday Times top ten bestseller for twenty-four weeks.
‘Everyone who has any interest in public life should read it’ – Daily Mail
Details
Reviews
“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
“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
“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
“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
