Synopsis
An anonymous barrister offers a shocking, darkly funny and very moving journey through the legal system – and explains how it's failing all of us.
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
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 are 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.
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‘Eye-opening, funny and horrifying’ – The Observer
‘Everyone who has any interest in public life should read it’ – Daily Mail
The Secret Barrister's first fiction novel, The Cut Throat Trial, is available now.
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
“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
“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
