It is certainly not unheard of for a book written by a
lawyer to make headlines. John Grisham comes to mind and Rumpole of the Bailey
gave me many a happy hour as a student.
But is a rare thing for a book about the practice of law to rise up to
Number 3 in The Times charts – especially one written by an anonymous
barrister. Stories of the Law – and How It’s Broken by The Secret Barrister has
managed to do just that.
For the purpose of this review I will call the author SB whom,
I will also assume is a she for no particular reason!
What she has written is a devastating critique of our
criminal justice system. It is based on her experience as a working criminal
barrister over many years. This is certainly the voice of someone who deserves
to be heard. It is also very readable. The book is interesting, funny and
terrifying at the same time.
Time and space don’t permit an analysis of every detail. I
intend to focus on three key issues that caused me particular alarm as I read
it.
The first of these took me back many years to my early days
as a young and terrified criminal advocate who was destined to be a civil
litigator! This is the wonderful and fascinating world of the Magistrates
Court, where the majority of criminal cases start and end. It is clear from SB
that little has changed over those years. Bail applications are routinely
refused. Defendants are routinely convicted. All of this is done by willing
volunteers recruited via a system which ‘prizes whether you ran a tombola over
your capacity for legal analysis.’ There are many examples of the eccentricity
of the courts including one enthusiastic magistrate criticising cross examining
counsel for asking a leading question – which is of course the whole point of
cross examination. SB finds no justification for this – ‘sausage factory
paradigm of justice’, other than that it is ‘cheap, is the way we’ve always done it and no one
who votes knows or cares.’ There are those who support the idea of local lay
justices. But no one reading this section of the book can avoid a sense of
alarm that the liberty of citizens is left in the hands of these courts. That
sense of alarm is unrelenting.
The next issue that shocked me was the appalling treatment
of victims. Politicians like to talk about victims of crime. The tabloids love
it. There is a Victims’ code, a Victims’ minister, a Victims’ Commissioner, a
Victims’ Task Force. But ultimately, no one really gives a shit. They are
routinely excluded from the entire process. Cases are listed for floating
trials with no hope of actually starting. But the victim is led to believe that
this will be their day in court. Many months can go by before a case is
relisted. Two thirds of Crown Court Trials do not go ahead. Who knew? The
victims certainly didn’t. In one shocking case a victim of serious domestic
abuse sees the prosecution of her former partner collapse because a seriously
under-resourced CPS failed to get its act together. According to one survey,
only 55% of victims would be willing to go through the process again. All of
this is done under the tagline – Putting the Victims First.
Thirdly SB explains the iniquitous ‘Innocence Tax’. ‘You can be refused legal aid and forced to
pay privately. You can be found not guilty of any criminal offence. And the
life savings you have exhausted in the process of defending yourself will not
be refunded.’ In what civilised society is this acceptable?
There is far more in the book as she takes us through a
nightmarish procession of wrongful convictions, wrongly abandoned prosecutions,
disillusioned victims, a desperately underfunded CPS and woefully underpaid
legal aid lawyers.
I would encourage all lawyers to read the book. Unless you
are doing this work day in day out you do not really have any idea. I knew
there was a big problem but did not fully appreciate just how bad it was. All
MPs have been sent a copy. They should read it. They will not be the same again
if they do. Anyone with a concern about how our country treats those accused of
and the victims of crime (in other words all of us!) should read this book now!
Not everyone will agree with it all. But no one can disagree that the law is
broken and urgent action is needed.
