Book review: The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| Author | Michael Irwin |
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550518809848a |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book reviews
455
The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken
The Secret Barrister
Picador; 2018; pp. 384; £16:99; pbk
ISBN: 978-1509841103
Reviewed by: Michael Irwin, author of My Life Began At Forty
The Secret Barrister is, in simple terms, a modern and up-to-date expose´ of criminal
law and court proceedings in England and Wales. It has allegedly been penned by
a junior barrister of 10 years’ experience who, in their own words, describes the
barrister role as one that ‘first and foremost advocates, presenting cases in court,
usually the Crown Court, on behalf of either the prosecution or the defence’ (p. 10).
However in the opening chapter the author goes on to explain that:
. . . in practice, the job also requires the skills of a social worker, relationship counsel-
lor, arm-twister, hostage negotiator, named driver, bus fare-provider, accountant,
suicide-watchman, coffee supplier, surrogate parent and, on one memorable occa-
sion, whatever the official term is for someone tasked with breaking the news to a
prisoner that his girlfriend has been diagnosed with gonorrhea. (p. 10)
There are many readers of this journal who will relate to that last quote, and this
why it is a must for anyone working in probation services.
The author starts off by explaining to the lay person, in a somewhat tongue-in-
cheek introduction, how and why the criminal court system was formed. The author
disarms the reader with humour and Rumpolesque vocabulary, but don’t be fooled
by this, as this book significantly undermines the idea of justice, the very core of a
justice system that our modern-day society believes it has as protection. This
assertion is summarised thus:
. . . as someone immersed in the fog of the criminal courts, my fear is that the public’s
lack of insight into our secretive, opaque system is allowing the consecration of a way
of dealing with crime that bears little resemblance to what we understand by criminal
justice. That defendants, victims and, ultimately,...
To continue reading
Request your trial