The Secret Barrister's Top Book Recommendations
Want to know what books The Secret Barrister recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of The Secret Barrister's favorite book recommendations of all time.
Recommended by The Secret Barrister, and 1 others. The Secret BarristerAuthor and practising barrister Tim Kevan, who has emerged from the shadows to claim deserved credit for his work, writes with wit and flair to illustrate the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of life at the Bar, drawing on a cast of characters immediately recognisable to anyone who has come into contact with the legal profession. (Source)
As one of the country's leading political journalists, Isabel Hardman has spent many years in that bizarre rabbit-warren we call the Houses of Parliament. She's conducted thousands of interviews with MPs ranging from fresh-faced recruits to Prime Ministers. With some notable exceptions, she has found them to be decent, hard-working people, doing a hugely difficult and demanding job. And yet, politicians are consistently voted the least trusted professional group by the UK public - below estate agents, lawyers and journalists. And every year, MPs collectively introduce new legislation that...
moreRecommended by The Secret Barrister, and 1 others. The Secret BarristerThis explains, accessibly but forensically, how our political culture—from the way MPs are selected to the way in which laws are scrutinised—results in ill-thought-out and counterproductive laws being enacted without the majority of MPs having the faintest understanding of what they are voting on. (Source)
Before The Firm and The Pelican Brief made him a superstar, John Grisham wrote this riveting story of retribution and justice. In this searing courtroom drama, best-selling author John Grisham probes the savage depths of racial violence...as he delivers a compelling tale of uncertain justice in a small southern town...Clanton, Mississippi.
The life of a ten-year-old girl is shattered... more
Recommended by The Secret Barrister, and 1 others. The Secret BarristerThis was the holiday-reading book which, as a teenager, inspired me to pursue criminal law. The gritty reality of criminal practice is of course somewhat removed from the fictionalised ideal, and any lawyer acting in the way that our hero Jake Brigance does in securing a just outcome for his innocent client would have to deal with fairly serious professional consequences, but the underlying... (Source)
Fiona Maye is a High Court judge in London presiding over cases in family court. She is fiercely intelligent, well respected, and deeply immersed in the nuances of her particular field of law. Often the outcome of a case seems simple from the outside, the course of action to ensure a child's welfare obvious. But the law requires more rigor than mere pragmatism, and Fiona... more
The Secret BarristerThis novel is as impeccably researched as you would expect given the author, which pleases the legal pedant in me, but its greater achievement still is its illustration of the humanity beating throughout the justice system. (Source)
Selina O'GradyIan McEwan is the subtlest of the New Athiests. Most of his novels show that we, as humans, just as we need to live in groups, have a desperate desire to make meaning. Many neo-atheists fail to understand that religion is quite a good way of doing this. Stupid though its beliefs might be, nonetheless it does give us a meaning, which we so desperately need. What’s interesting about The Children... (Source)
In this brilliant short book, Britain's former senior law lord, and one of the world's most acute legal minds, examines what the idea actually means. He makes clear that the rule of law is not an arid legal doctrine but is the foundation of a fair and just society, is a guarantee of responsible government, is an important contribution to... more
The Secret BarristerThis book is cited as mandatory reading for all prospective law students at every law school in the country, but I would go further and decree it compulsory for all politicians and indeed anybody with any interest in public life. (Source)
Max MosleyWhat’s interesting about The Rule of Law is that it’s written by someone who was until very recently the UK’s most senior judge, Lord Bingham. It’s comforting because it shows that the highest level of the judiciary is really interested in the liberty of the individual and freedom in all its various guises. It’s also got all sorts of fascinating little pieces in it. For example, he criticises the... (Source)
Shami ChakrabartiA new book from probably the greatest jurist of our times, probably anywhere in the world. (Source)
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