In Your Defence
True Stories of Life and Law
Published on 28. June 2018
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-85752-528-4 (ISBN)
Description
____________________
A SUNDAY TIMES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR
'A thoughtful, elegant book. ... often as thrilling as a detective novel. ' - Thomas Grant, QC The Times.
____________________
Sarah Langford is a barrister. Her job is to stand in court representing the mad and the bad, the vulnerable, the heartbroken and the hopeful. She must become their voice: weave their story around the black and white of the law and tell it to the courtroom. These stories may not make headlines but they will change the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary ways. They are stories which, but for a twist of luck, might have been yours.
To work at the Bar is to enter a world shrouded by strange clothing, archaic rituals and inaccessible language. So how does it feel to be an instrument of such an unknowable system? And what does it mean to be at its mercy? Our legal system promises us justice, impartiality and fair judgement. Does it, or can it, deliver this?
With remarkable candour, Sarah describes eleven cases which reveal what goes on in our criminal and family courts. She examines how she feels as she defends the person standing in the dock. She tells compelling stories - of domestic fall out, everyday burglary, sexual indiscretion, and children caught up in the law - that are sometimes shocking and often heart-stopping. She shows us how our attitudes and actions can shape not only the outcome of a case, but the legal system itself.
A SUNDAY TIMES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR
'A thoughtful, elegant book. ... often as thrilling as a detective novel. ' - Thomas Grant, QC The Times.
____________________
Sarah Langford is a barrister. Her job is to stand in court representing the mad and the bad, the vulnerable, the heartbroken and the hopeful. She must become their voice: weave their story around the black and white of the law and tell it to the courtroom. These stories may not make headlines but they will change the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary ways. They are stories which, but for a twist of luck, might have been yours.
To work at the Bar is to enter a world shrouded by strange clothing, archaic rituals and inaccessible language. So how does it feel to be an instrument of such an unknowable system? And what does it mean to be at its mercy? Our legal system promises us justice, impartiality and fair judgement. Does it, or can it, deliver this?
With remarkable candour, Sarah describes eleven cases which reveal what goes on in our criminal and family courts. She examines how she feels as she defends the person standing in the dock. She tells compelling stories - of domestic fall out, everyday burglary, sexual indiscretion, and children caught up in the law - that are sometimes shocking and often heart-stopping. She shows us how our attitudes and actions can shape not only the outcome of a case, but the legal system itself.
Reviews / Votes
Sarah Langford has reinvented a genre ... [as a barrister she has turned] her experience of 11 criminal cases into short stories that are as compelling as fiction, with the added fascination of being essentially true ... Immensely powerful. -- Jenni Russell * Sunday Times * A compelling read for anyone who cares about fairness, justice and humanity and should be on the reading list of all politicians and policy-makers. -- Catherine Baksi * Observer * [Langford] combines the demands of her job, the stories of those she represents and her own views and emotions with great skill...powerful, moving and often captivating. -- Barney Thompson * Financial Times * Vivid... surprisingly uplifting. A thoughtful, elegant book. ... it is often as thrilling as a detective novel. And sometimes it is moving: the last chapter had this reviewer in tears. -- Thomas Grant, QC - author of Jeremy Hutchinson's Case Histories * The Times * A riveting account of cases she's fought over nearly 10 years in the family courts. These are harrowing stories: of newborns taken by social services, of bitter divorces, of children trapped in the turbulence of addiction, gangs, or both, an unprecedented collection, moving, enraging and desperate, all told in Langford's cool, compelling prose. -- Charlotte Edwardes * Evening Standard * This compelling book tracks eleven cases through the criminal and family courts...tales of despair and hope that could be about you or me. Sarah Langford's stated objective is to bring 'to life ideas which otherwise so often appear in abstract: fairness, justice, truth'. The result is a resounding and thought-provoking success....Insightful and often haunting ... Langford starts her journey as a single woman; she ends it married and soon to be a mother. Between times she has been changed. And, over the course of her book, so are we... There are unforgettable descriptions ... As much as these are engrossing stories, written with flair, and in clean, tight prose, Langford has serious points to make... -- William Brodrick * Literary Review * By turns heartbreaking and hopeful, and succeeds in giving an articulate, compassionate voice to those who would otherwise struggle to be heard.The prose is engrossing, and the book is only too easy to devour in great gulps ... Langford tackles the frustration and fears of the profession with honesty and energy. -- Olivia Potts * Spectator * This page-turner gets to the heart of whether or not the legal system delivers justice, impartiality and fair judgment. * Law Society Gazette * In Your Defence is an anthology of beautifully rendered stories of legal practice, each striking at the beating heart of our justice system. The storytelling is compelling, reading like page-turning fiction, but speaking in every chapter to fundamental truths about the meaning of justice for those trapped in the wheels of our criminal and family courts. Sarah Langford breathes vibrancy and compassion into the dusty tomes of the law, capturing and exposing the raw humanity lying beneath the system, and offering a necessary reminder of the impact of the law on those whose lives are chartered by its whims. -- The Secret Barrister Editor's Choice: Brilliant, highly illuminating...it's hard to imagine a better written or more insightful account of life at the bar than this. -- Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
437 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-85752-528-4 (9780857525284)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Sarah Langford is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law. For ten years, she worked in criminal and family law in London and around the UK. Coming from a farming background in Hampshire, she studied English at University and then worked as a barmaid, legal secretary and note-taking clerk before completing a law conversation and going on to train as a barrister. Sarah left the Bar on maternity leave to have her two small sons. She now lives between Suffolk and London and is writing full time.