The Secret Barrister

Stories of the Law and How It's Broken

By: The Secret Barrister

Narrated by: Jack Hawkins

An anonymous barrister's darkly comic and moving first-hand account of life in the legal system, and how it's failing us all.

The Sunday Times number one bestseller.
Winner of the Books are My Bag Non-Fiction Award.
Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year.
Shortlisted for Specsavers Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

‘Eye-opening, funny and horrifying’ – Observer

You may not wish to think about it, but one day you or someone you love will almost certainly appear in a criminal courtroom. You might be a juror, a victim, a witness or – perhaps through no fault of your own – a defendant. Whatever your role, you’d expect a fair trial.

I’m a barrister. I work in the criminal justice system, and every day I see how fairness is not guaranteed. Too often the system fails those it is meant to protect. The innocent are wronged and the guilty allowed to walk free.

In The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken I want to share some stories from my daily life to show you how the system is broken, who broke it and why we should start caring before it’s too late.

A Sunday Times top ten bestseller for twenty-four weeks.

‘Everyone who has any interest in public life should read it’ – Daily Mail

Critic reviews

By turns eye-opening, damning and hilarious, the secret barrister lifts the lid on a legal system where the system, the politicians, the lack of funding and sometimes the judges are the real villains and the victims are all of us (Tim Shipman, author of Fall Out and All Out War)

The Secret Barrister can write...everyone who has any interest in public life should read it...this is a book of some brilliance, clearly explained, cogently argued

Takes the reader deep into the bowels of the criminal justice system...the message of this entertaining book is delivered with great skill...the book is at once a lament and a celebration...the justice system as not just for criminals and victims but for all of us - it is the symbol of our nation's humanity

Terrifying and occasionally hilarious... this is an eye-opening, if depressing, account of the practice of law today. Perhaps there is hope, but the author leaves us in no doubt that urgent reform is needed

This excellent book will hopefully raise awareness of what has been, until now, a silent crisis. It is at once a vicious polemic, a helpful primer and a cringe-inducing account of one barrister's travails

A sensation beyond lawyers’ circles. The Secret Barrister is an anguished, detailed polemic by an anonymous current practitioner about how dangerously flawed, fragile and underfunded our famed legal system has become . . . an SOS, a desperate and cogent call for action and resources before the justice system, and our faith in it, collapses . . . I hope the arguments . . . will resonate widely – and that the government will act on them before it is too late. (Jenni Russell)

The unfolding calamity in our criminal justice system is best told in The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken. This angry yet forensic analysis from first arrest to prison is a gripping front-line view by an anonymous, lowly criminal barrister. Read and rage at evidence that “every day the provably guilty walk free”, while the hapless needlessly end up in jail. (Polly Toynbee)

Fluently and engagingly written...a copy of this book should be placed on the desk of every judge, every trainee lawyer, every would-be lawyer, every politician, and every minister responsible for the legal system

An illuminating and timely insight into the legal system, transforming arcane practice into accessible and fascinating anecdote

If you have not already met The Secret Barrister, he or she makes an entertaining and acerbic holiday companion for those who don’t switch off their brains in summer (Hilary Mantel)

Behold, the book that got me through jury service! A timely and accessible look at today's UK court system, this is a no nonsense explainer on how things work, very much don't work, and how we got here. Who knew that educating yourself about, for example, the history of magistrates, could be so much fun? (Alexandra Heminsley, The Pool)

Shocking but vital

10% inspiring, 40% depressing, 40% fascinating and 10% funny.
I was gifted reading this audiobook by a friend who works, sorry, worked for the CPS. She recently apologetically left her mountainous backlog in the hands of her dwindling colleagues. She gave me no hint as to the tenor of this book but attested to the emotions and truths conveyed within these pages, so well read by the narrator.
The author can reasonably be lauded as a heralding angel of a coming man-made disaster, this time not of the environment but instead, the systems that our ancestors incrementally crafted to protect us. These systems have, through self interest and neglect, been allowed to erode from the inside out. By the time we wider public notice the human cost, the cost to remedy may sadly be too high and a new dark ages of society may be our harvest.
I'd argue this is almost required reading by any inhabitant of the British isles if only to prepare them for that hopefully unlikely day when they find themselves lost in the fickle maelstrom of the legal system.

very interesting, worth a listen

a very interesting book. not at all what I expected.

slightly scary too!!

a bit dry in places but some very fascinating insight.

the narrator is a bit preachy.

worth a listen

Review

The book was very informative, well documented and supported with proper examples. The book was read brilliantly. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Narrator is a bit too earnest, but important msg

I found the narrator to be annoying. Like a preachy mate who is right and rubs it in. This doesn't detract from the excellence of the work tho - the UK legal system is a car crash.

Important book

An insider reveals the deep flaws in England’s legal system - and the wide and serious ramifications for society and its members.

The book contains details but is engagingly narrated and humanised with stories of characters who suffer legal injustices - characters that could be people whom we know; they could even be us.