In Your Defence

An interesting and enlightening set of insights into how the British legal system works, even if this book was not really for me. Langford is an English graduate turned barrister and so knows how to write. Her eleven disparate case studies in this work chart the fate of individuals and how the direction of their lives has been influenced—both for good and bad—by how justice works in this country. The quirks of the legal system and how its laws can be interpreted by savvy lawyers were disappointingly unsurprising, while my faith in justice was broadly reaffirmed, technicalities do leave matters unexpectedly altered (or seen in a different light) under certain circumstances. I found myself not really caring enough about the people in question—they were often victims of their own poor life choices—and I was reminded why I had never chosen to pursue law as a career. Not rated.

By Sarah Langford