Book Recommendation: Rumpole Rests His Case

Rumpole Rests His Case - seven hilarious stories starring John Mortimer’s unforgettable barrister

The comic, courageous, and corpulent Horace Rumpole reenters the fray in these seven fresh and funny stories in which the “great defender of muddled and sinful humanity” triumphs over the forces of prejudice and mean-mindedness while he tiptoes precariously through the domestic territory of his wife, Hilda-She Who Must Be Obeyed! With his passion for poetry, and a nose equally sensitive to the whiff of wrongdoing and the bouquet of a Chďż˝teau Thames Embankment, the lovable and disheveled Rumpole “is at his rumpled best” (The New York Times).

These seven wonderful Rumpole stories will be loved by fans of John Mortimer, as well as readers of Sherlock Holmes, P.D. James and P.G. Wodehouse.

‘One of the great comic creations of modern times’ Evening Standard
‘There is a truth in Rumpole that is told with brilliance and grace’ Daily Telegraph

‘Rumpole remains and absolute delight’ The Times

Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional political trilogy of Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer’s Lease.

Available from Amazon

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Monday morning with Alex Williams’ cartoons,17th June 2013

This cartoon is by Alex Williams who draws the Queen’s Counsel cartoons for The Times and in numerous books including Lawyers Uncovered. He also does the cartoons for BabyBarista and has had two more excellent books published recently: 101 Ways to Leave the Law and 101 Uses for a Useless Banker. He offers almost all of his cartoons for sale at £120 for originals and £40 for copies and they can be obtained from this email info@qccartoon.com.

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Weekend Video: Steve Jobs in Sweden, 1985

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Legal aid cuts will not only bring injustice but also increased costs @theiclr

Brought to you by our friends at the ICLR

HeadClerk

HeadClerk called an emergency Chambers Meeting yesterday. “I’m afraid that we need a bit of a shake-up of our practice structure.”
A general groan before OldSmoothie said, “Yes, yes. Time for us all to work harder and bring in a few more solicitors.”
“Quite the contrary,” said HeadClerk. “In the light of the government’s proposed cuts to legal aid I want everyone to make a conscious effort instead to start shedding solicitors…criminal ones that is.”
“But that makes up half of my practice,” said BusyBody.
“And that’s all the criminal law will be from now on in this chambers…” said HeadClerk, “…practise. A place to learn a bit of advocacy and then move on. If the government’s taking away the cash I’m not having my barristers wasting their time for less money than they could get doing a paper round. So from now on, criminal law is for pupils only.”
“But…what about the serious criminal matters?” said BusyBody.
“It’s all serious when it comes to someone’s liberty,” said TheVamp.
“And so is paying the rent on this expensive chambers,” said HeadClerk. “So if anyone wants to do charity work they can do it away from here. In the meantime, the pupils get the lot.”
The pupils looked horrified at the prospect of suddenly being thrown in at the deep end of the criminal law.
“You see, this is the problem,” said UpTights. “They’ll pay a pittance up front, think they’ve saved a few pounds and then find that suddenly appeals and compensation claims start exploding all over the place.”
“It’s always the same,” said OldSmoothie. “Whenever the government starts trying to reduce legal fees at the expense of justice, they just start a whole new line of appellate work.”
“They’d be better off getting their own house in order if they really want to save costs,” said BusyBody. “The amount of adjournments I’ve seen which could easily have been avoided with better organisation is ridiculous.”
“In the meantime,” said HeadClerk, “I think we’d better get our pupils access to the ICLR online since I fear they’ll be needing more than the Highway Code this year.”
“Well at least the ICLR is one constant we can rely on,” said OldRuin, “even when the rest of the legal world is in complete turmoil.”

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Book Recommendation: More Weird Cases

The first book in this series, Weird Cases, was published in 2009 and contained cases which had been dealt with by the courts in the previous two years. The parade of extraordinary human disputes and irregularities that are heard in law courts has, however, run on unabated since then. More Weird Cases provides a further instalment of extraordinary cases from around the world that have featured in the author’s popular column in The Times Online.

Available from Amazon

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Monday morning with Alex Williams’ cartoons,10th June 2013

This cartoon is by Alex Williams who draws the Queen’s Counsel cartoons for The Times and in numerous books including Lawyers Uncovered. He also does the cartoons for BabyBarista and has had two more excellent books published recently: 101 Ways to Leave the Law and 101 Uses for a Useless Banker. He offers almost all of his cartoons for sale at £120 for originals and £40 for copies and they can be obtained from this email info@qccartoon.com.

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Weekend Video: ICLR Encounters 2 – Justice on Trial with Joshua Rozenberg, Matthew Ryder and Martin Beckford

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Book Recommendation: Letters to a Law Student: A Guide to Studying Law at University

Letters to a Law Student relays all that a prospective law student needs to know before embarking on their studies. It provides a useful guide to those considering a law degree or conversion course and helps students prepare for what can be a daunting first year of study.

Available from Amazon

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Tricks of the trade

“One of the witnesses in my case had a classic give away under cross-examination,” said BusyBody today. “Kept scratching her nose each and every time she lied. In the end even the judge was chuckling along with me.”

“I tend to find that their eyes go up and to the left as if they’re trying to access a particular part of their made-up story,” said OldSmoothie.

“Your give away when you’ve got a terrible case is to start scratching your receding hairline,” said TheVamp.

“And yours for that matter is to adjust the top of your bra strap for some reason,” he replied.

“Trust you to notice,” said BusyBody.

“You know, Slippery employs a body language expert whenever he has a big negotiation. Tells his opponent they’re his assistant when in fact they’re some hired-in specialist consultant.”

“I know someone else who always takes along a poker champion to do his bidding. Figures he’ll be better both at selling his own case and more importantly reading how strong the other side are feeling about their own case.”

“The best I’ve heard is a barrister who has a voice stress analyst sitting in the back of the court texting him messages to his mobile as to when their analysis suggests a witness or an opponent is bluffing or just plain lying,” said UpTights.

“Or a judge for that matter,” said TheBusker.

“That’s nothing. I know one solicitor who refuses to take a case on a no-win no-fee unless the client is prepared to take a lie-detector test, kind of Meet the Parents style.”

“Maybe we should start doing that for pupillage interviews,” said HeadofChambers. “It’d certainly spice things up a little.”

BabyBarista is a fictional account of a junior barrister written by Tim Kevan whose new novel is Law and Peace. For more information and to read past posts visit babybarista.com. Cartoons by Alex Williams, author of 101 Ways to Leave the Law.

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Steering clear of the clients

“It’s about time everyone in chambers qualified for direct access,” announced the modernising Slick today.

“You must be joking,” said OldSmoothie. “Can’t think of anything worse, in fact.”

“What? You don’t want access to that huge pile of potential fees which is the general public?” said Slick.

“It’s all very well giving us direct access to them,” he replied. “But what you seem to forget is that that also gives them reciprocal rights of access to us.”

“It’s bad enough having solicitors being able to bother us day in day out,” said HeadofChambers. “But at least they filter out the worst excesses of the lay clients.”

“What? Like them ringing you every day with one more worry or another? I already have plenty of solicitors who do that,” said BusyBody.

“Or questioning your judgment every time you offer advice?” said TheVamp.

“Again, solicitors are far worse for that,” said TheCreep.

“Or not paying you on time?” said TheBusker.

“Er, I think even the worst lay client wouldn’t consider it normal to wait two years before even thinking about getting round to considering whether to pay up,” said OldRuin.

“But lay clients have no perspective on their cases. They take everything so personally,” said OldSmoothie.

“And that differs from solicitors in what way, exactly?” smiled Teflon.

“So actually, we’re decided that solicitor clients are even more annoying than lay clients?” said Slick.

“More so, since they also think they have the right to boss us around,” said UpTights.

“Which to be fair, given that they’re paying the bills, they do,” said BusyBody.

“Maybe it’d be better if we had no access to solicitor or lay clients. A whole world of peace and quiet,” said TheVamp cheerfully.

“Peace and quiet and no money,” said HeadClerk.

With which the conversation ended abruptly.

BabyBarista is a fictional account of a junior barrister written by Tim Kevan whose new novel is Law and Peace. For more information and to read past posts visit babybarista.com. Cartoons by Alex Williams, author of 101 Ways to Leave the Law.

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