The Secret Barrister (stories Of The Law And How It's Broken)

By (author) The Secret Barrister; By (author) The Secret Barrister
Short description/annotation
An eye opening and often hilarious account of the criminal justice system, and how it affects us all.
Description

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 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 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.
‘Eye-opening, funny and horrifying’ – Observer
‘Everyone who has any interest in public life should read it’ – Daily Mail

Table of contents
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
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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
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Dishes the dirt — or serves up a slice of reality — on what barristers do
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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This excellent book