In Your Defence

IT'S ACTUALLY ABOUT HOW A DEFENCE TO AN ACTION IS MOUNTED TODAY:

SADLY, ANOTHER BOOK ABOUT OUR BROKEN LEGAL SYSTEM WITH THE RULE OF LAW UNDER THREAT

An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers and Reviews Editor, "The Barrister"

This book is actually written in our defence! A lot of people are worried about the broken legal system, so we have another law book on the shelves, and those shelves are getting quite packed with the mounting frustrations of the lawyers about the rule of law. Sadly, "In Your Defence" by Sarah Langford illustrates a worsening of the criminal justice process at a bad time for a maintenance of the rule of law.

To a new readership, Sarah Langford is a barrister-at-law who is an advocate in criminal cases. She describes her job as "is to stand in court representing the mad and the bad, the vulnerable, the heartbroken and the hopeful". Actually, also the innocent, we hope. Langford continues, saying that "she must become their voice: weave their story around the black and white of the law and tell it to the courtroom". And all within unnecessarily complex procedural rules and directions, incomprehensible to many, and for bad pay.

Much of this book is about stories which don't "make headlines but they will change the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary ways" – that being our job as criminal advocates. And Langford adds that "they are stories which, but for a twist of luck, might have been yours", which is somewhat ominous.

So, what do barristers do? The author says that "to work at the Bar is to enter a world shrouded by strange clothing, archaic rituals and inaccessible language". Yes, sometimes called tradition. She then goes on to pose these questions, making the book even more thought-provoking and readable for a lay audience: how does it feel to be an instrument of such an unknowable system, and what does it mean to be at its mercy?

Good questions, but is the English legal system one that promises us justice, impartiality and fair judgement under the rule of law? For Langford, she does a good attempt at uncovering the mess that is criminal justice in 2018 with further questioning of whether the system delivers what we require for a more literate and well-developed society.

This book delivers, "with remarkable candour", a description of eleven cases which reveal what happens in the criminal and family courts. And it is so sad to have to report that we agree with Sarah Langford's judgment. She tells us how she feels "as she defends the person standing in the dock"- not something we would wish to do! And she relates compelling contemporary stories covering what we do: "domestic fall out, everyday burglary, sexual indiscretion, and children caught up in the law". We realise that these are "sometimes shocking and often heart-stopping" proceedings which, in the past very few people really knew much about. Today it's different.

There is a conclusion to "In Your Defence" because, by showing us where we are with the criminal justice system today, Langford explains to us how "our attitudes and actions can shape not only the outcome of a case, but the legal system itself". Whether the book succeeds by asking us to consider, in our increasingly polarized world, what is truth and what is justice is for the individual reader. But, this is one book of a series by different authors, highlighting the mounting chaos of modern justice with the rule of law under threat, even from its traditional roots… and alas, it is all about money.

The book was published on 28th June 2018.