Reviews
Book review: Court Number One: The Old Bailey Trials that Defined Modern Britain
<ul><li>Court Number One: The Old Bailey Trials that Defined Modern Britain </li><li>By Thomas Grant QC </li><li>Publisher: John Murray (May 2019) </li><li>ISBN: 9781473651616 </li></ul>
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Book review: Personal Injury Pleadings Sixth Edition
<ul><li><strong>Personal Injury Pleadings Sixth Edition</strong> </li><li><strong>By Patrick Curran QC</strong> </li><li><strong>Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell (May 2019)</strong> </li><li><strong>ISBN: 9780414070776</strong> </li></ul><p>Clarity is everything. The reason <strong></strong>why this superb textbook has sailed triumphantly into its sixth edition is the ability of its author, Patrick Curran QC, to bring that essential quality to the table at all times. It demonstrates the necessary precision of proper pleadings and does so with real scholarship and excellent example. Sir John Mummery has identified the quality of this writing and he is right to do so. </p><p>The latest edition has 11 new chapters geared to today’s challenges in personal injury litigation and a complete revision of its structure and content. Valuable case notes are part of the mix and, for example, the way in which applications for relief from sanctions should be evidenced and pleaded. Even for those who do not stray often into its territory, it is a joy to use. </p><blockquote>"The reason why this superb textbook has sailed triumphantly into its sixth edition is the ability of its author, Patrick Curran QC, to bring that essential quality to the table at all times"</blockquote><p>Read also with joy the droll and sometimes colourful prefaces of previous editions, and the present delightfully nostalgic one (for the author has found in his old chambers, Farrar’s Building, a good place to revise this essential textbook; and long may his work thrive). </p><p>On the bench and out in the fields of play, judges and practitioners will find this an indispensable companion. For our judgments and our submissions can be built on solid rock and where we succeed, we have been buttressed by real erudition. Most of all, by clarity. </p><p><strong>Reviewer: Nigel Pascoe QC is a silk at Pump Court Chambers and a member of the Counsel Editorial Board.</strong> </p><p> </p>
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Theatre review: [BLANK] by Alice Birch
<p><strong><em>Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Clean Break </em></strong> </p><p>Running until 30 November 2019 at the Donmar Theatre </p>
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Book review: Marked for Death
<ul><li><strong><em>Marked for Death </em></strong> </li><li><strong>Tony Kent</strong> </li><li><strong>Elliott & Thompson Ltd, Paperback edition (July 2019)</strong> </li><li><strong>ISBN 978-1783964499</strong><br /> </li></ul><p>I must confess to a weakness for a ‘grab-you-by-the-throat-won’t-let-go-only-one-of-us-is-getting-out-of-here-alive’ kind of thriller. Of its genre this is one of the very best. The natural child of Michael Connolly and John Grisham with a dark sprinkling of Ian Rankin. </p><p>The murder of a former Lord Chief Justice leads Michael Devlin QC and his partner Sarah Truman into the helter-skelter pursuit of the killer. Whilst Devlin is holding down his day job in some brilliantly realised courtroom scenes at the Old Bailey (I may well be stealing the cell-site cross-examination) Sarah Truman pursues hers as an investigative journalist who is onto the killer. </p><p>What follows is the drawing together of apparently disparate threads to create a very satisfying whole. The plot sprints along and caused the first genuine 3am ‘got to find out how this is going to end’ moment in many years. </p><p>The murder of a solicitor and then horrific events closer to home begin to reveal the identity of a killer who is, at every turn, many steps ahead of his pursuers. A genuinely clever psychopath has never been more realistically or chillingly realised. </p><p>The plot avoids narrative clichés and the twist is both brilliantly delivered and utterly unforeseen. </p><p>In this, his second book, Tony Kent has created a memorable villain worthy of Thomas Harris and yet grounded in a world completely familiar to those of us who work in the criminal justice system. His protagonists, in particular Devlin (with his flaws) and his erstwhile pupil supervisor, are definitely people I used to drink with in the Devereux. </p><p>This realism is no surprise. Tony Kent is a barrister of some 17 years who will be well known to practitioners in London and South Eastern Circuiteers, although not by the nom de plume. His first book, Killer Intent, was a bestseller and selected for the Zoe Ball Book Club. Marked for Death is darker and may well leave the readership of the Richard and Judy Book Club (for which it has been selected) a tad traumatised but it is an excellent addition to my favourite genre. </p><p><strong>Reviewer: Craig Rush is a barrister at 2 Bedford Row.</strong> </p>
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Book review: Judge Walden: Call the Next Case
<div><p><i><b>Judge Walden: call the next case</b></i> </p><p><b>Author: Peter Murphy</b> </p></div><div><p> </p><p><b>Publisher: No Exit Press</b> </p><p><b>ISBN: 9780857302977</b> </p></div>
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Review: Rediscovering Soane
<p>For a quick escape from the daily grind, try an all-absorbing visit to the fully restored home and treasures of 19th century architect and master of design Sir John Soane in the heart of legal London</h4>
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Exhibition review: The Greenham Women
<i><b>An exhibition depicting the daily life of the Greenham Women, including Rebecca Trowler QC, reminds us of the importance and power of peaceful protest, writes </b><b>Maurice MacSweeney</b></i>
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Book review: Blind Defence
<div><p><b><i>Blind Defence</i></b><br /><b>Author: John Fairfax</b><br /><b>Publisher: Little, Brown (2018)</b><br /><b>ISBN: 9781408708750</b> </p></div><div><p>This is a long book – more than 300 pages – and having invested time in reading it, one is predisposed to want this to be well spent. The protagonist rivals Morse, Tennison or Sherlock in having unexpected characteristics that draws you in. A defence barrister, who has himself served a term of imprisonment, he presents as a flawed hero and is the underdog the reader is silently rooting for. Following in the best traditions of crime drama, clues, the characters’ background and histories are revealed bit by bit to form a veritable jigsaw. </p><p>Optioned for television, it is easy to see how this beautifully written book by William Brodrick (who practised as a barrister before writing full time; Fairfax is his pen name), would transfer to screen sympathetically. There is vivid imagery to exploit; houseboats, East End gangsters, organised-crime lords, dark alleys, sudden deaths and fishermen all feature. With political strands being interwoven into the topic of law, different social classes, and an unspoken commentary thereof featuring, it ticked all the boxes one has come to expect with this type of novel. </p><p>However, it also appeared to be something of a Harry Potter novel; the multiple strands and little details – which one felt sure should amount to a startling revelation – are never fully explored. I would not be surprised that this second book featuring the double act of De Vere (solicitor) and Benson (counsel), will be followed by a third, and possibly more books, with additional disclosures. Ultimately, I was left slightly annoyed and cheated that some of the detail of the clever plot was not well explained. I still do not understand the significance of an infamous cigarette butt (on which much turns inexplicably), despite going back to see if I have missed something! That said, when the next book comes out, will I read it? Just try and stop me. And when this is on television, I may shout at the screen occasionally – but I will enjoy doing so. </p><div></div><p><b>Reviewer: Melissa Coutinho</b> </p></div>
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Book review: Missing
<div><p><b><i>Missing</i></b><br /><b>Author: James Stewart</b><br /><b>Publisher: Melrose Books (2018)</b><br /><b>ISBN: 9781912333936</b> </p></div><div><p>Missing, by retired judge James Stewart QC, reads like an episode of <i>Midsomer Murders</i> updated for the 21st century; this is no bad thing. There is a straightforward plot with the disappearance of a key character, as one might anticipate from a book with this title. It does not matter that the characters are caricatures, fleshed out with just enough detail that is required for their roles. While there is no deep analysis of personality, preconceptions or motive, this is not necessary in a short but gripping read that keeps one guessing to the very end. Further, the brief characterisation is deftly done, and conjures up possible inhabitants of a modern-day sleepy village in North Yorkshire effortlessly. </p><p>There are some fond and lyrical observations about the region, and about cricket, which appear entirely incidental to the action. While no doubt reflecting the pride and affection of the writer for his home, they were also slightly distracting. This did not stop the book from being a real page turner. Reading this at court, such is the life of a busy barrister, I groaned when it was time for the start of each day, so engrossed did I become with the narrative. The trial is covered in all the detail that only a barrister or judge would include – or want to read – and this certainly helps the tension mount. One wants to know the outcome and what the jury decides. </p><p>The ending when it came was unexpected and included the promised twist. There were lots of small questions that remained unanswered but none that troubled one unduly when justice was clearly done. More unexpected was the pondering of the justice system and the role of juries at the end of the book. It would have been better placed as a spoken observation of a character on screen (hence, a cracking modern-day version of <i>Midsomer Murders</i> or something longer than needs to be seen on screen); as it was it jarred slightly in a novel where what the characters think is never really explored. Nonetheless, overall, definitely worth reading. </p><div></div><p><b>Reviewer: M</b><b>elissa Coutinho</b> </p></div>
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Book review: Law and the Whirligig of Time
<div><b style="font-size:inherit;background-color:initial;"><i>Law and the Whirligig of Time</i></b></div><div><p><b>Author: Sir Stephen Sedley</b><br /><b>Publisher: Hart Publishing</b><br /><b>ISBN: 9781509917099</b> </p></div><div><p>This is a rich collection of historical essays, learned articles, speeches and potted biographies. It is only at the end that we discover that as a young law student, the author/former Lord Justice of Appeal was the folk music critic for Tribune and once played an impromptu session with Bob Dylan at the Troubadour. It is worth noting this, when one reads forward, that at least one judge was never out of touch with the zeitgeist. </p><p>‘The whirligigs of time’ is the phrase from <i>Twelfth Night</i> appropriately first uttered in an Inn of Court. In a lecture at Edinburgh Sir Stephen pointed out the speed at which our notion of human rights has changed, eg how have we gone in a generation from seeing same gender sex as a sin to something protected by the human right of privacy? ‘It is the revenge which time is for ever taking on things we imagine to be timeless’. </p><p>Having been a pioneer of modern administrative law while at the Bar and having spent 19 years on the bench, the pieces inevitably dwell on how the law has changed and on how judges fit into the constitutional arrangement. He deals with the media-fed perception that judges are ‘unaccountable’. Here as elsewhere he points his guns towards the mischief caused by the illiberal parts of the media – one of Sir Stephen’s attributes being an encyclopaedic memory of all the silly things which have been printed over the years. ‘I do not imagine that the unelected-and-unaccountable critics want judges who have to be voted in or can be voted out.’ A judge who can be removed by government or the electorate ‘lacks the central attribute of judicial office, independence’. </p><p>The ‘People’ section includes his <i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</i> entries on Lords Scarman, Bingham and Diplock, and his obituary of Lord Denning. Magisterial, frank and unafraid to debunk some much-loved misconceptions about some of these men, they are excellent introductions to some important legal lives. Almost the last passage in the book is his advice to Oxford law students: ‘Possibly the hardest thing to achieve in legal practice is losing a case well... I mean leaving court knowing that you couldn’t have done more.’ </p><p>Perhaps in the future we shall hear something of those students. Meanwhile we look forward to hearing more, in his ostensible retirement, from Sir Stephen. </p><p><b>Reviewer: David Wurtzel<font size="-1"></font></b> </p></div><div><p><b> </b> </p></div><b></b>
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