When I depart this profession - and I think we all know it’s only a matter of time - let this please be my epitaph.

VOTING HAS STARTED FOR NOVEMBER! Cast your vote now... lawpawcalendar.com/vote-now-for...

Behold my Hallowe’en name.

Buckle up.

Waking up, again, to the sound of two white men on the radio arguing about whether it is ok to be made "mad" by the very sight of black and Asian people on TV. 😒

Last chance to enter! Send your photographs to [email protected] today!!

Are you ready for Halloween? Terrify trick or treaters with the spectre of an enormous legal bill with our double-headed bat-winged monstrosity and help @savechildrenuk.bsky.social

I apologise for my earlier comments. They were phrased poorly and unintentionally revealed what goes on in my head.

A deep-dive into the fictional will and murder-for-inheritance scenario in Taylor Swift's Anti-Hero through the lens of English law — private purpose trusts, certainties, perpetuities, forfeiture, butterfly lifespans, cat pictures, and capricious pet bequests. equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/10/23/s...

VOTE DAPHNE! The feline with consummate literary taste.

One feature of working at the Bar is that I come across a lot of very clever people. Of course it is a chastening reminder of one’s own limits, which is a moral good. After 34 years, I have changed my understanding of what cleverness is. /1

A big thank you to everyone who propelled us to the top of the Legal Thrillers chart. If you have anything positive to say about #TheCutThroatTrial once you’ve read it, I would be hugely grateful if you could leave a few words in review. “Nice cover” or “plenty of law stuff” will do.

NEW Trying to make sense of the nonsensical decision to drop the Chinese spying prosecutions How the positions of neither the CPS nor the government stand up to scrutiny By me emptycity.substack.com/p/trying-to-...

A big thank you to everyone who propelled us to the top of the Legal Thrillers chart. If you have anything positive to say about #TheCutThroatTrial once you’ve read it, I would be hugely grateful if you could leave a few words in review. “Nice cover” or “plenty of law stuff” will do.

What’s that, you say? You enjoy critically acclaimed gritty, authentic crime and legal thrillers? You enjoy reading such thrillers on an electronic medium, such as e-book? You enjoy ridonculous bargains? #TheCutThroatTrial is a crazy £1.99 today. Go nuts. www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Throat-T...

A must-have, for every home.

This is just over 66p per defendant! Lower than legal aid rates. A bargain; it’s an excellent read. I won’t spoiler it but the last bit is extremely sinister and you probably won’t have guessed how. The book as a whole left me thinking about truth, and how it is rationed in the courtroom.

What’s that, you say? You enjoy critically acclaimed gritty, authentic crime and legal thrillers? You enjoy reading such thrillers on an electronic medium, such as e-book? You enjoy ridonculous bargains? #TheCutThroatTrial is a crazy £1.99 today. Go nuts. www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Throat-T...

I have a new book coming! EYE SPY is out in March 2026, it’s a thriller set on the Eurostar, and it looks a lot like this! www.amazon.co.uk/Eye-Spy-addi...

The Cut Throat Trial by @barristersecret.bsky.social is a superb legal thriller. I loved the drip feed approach by using the perspectives of different actors in the trial. It manages to be pacy, gripping, shocking, and yet, truly believable. I’ve been recommending it to everyone.

The Bishop of Birmingham has written to the Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick about his comments about Handsworth

Jenrick complains that there are immigration judges (presumably he means the part-time ones) who spend the rest of their time representing immigrants. Wait until someone tells him about Recorders (part-time Crown Court judges) who spend the rest of their time defending the accused.

This is a lie. There are many criticisms you might sensibly and truthfully make of the Sentencing Council and the Sentencing Guidelines. I’ve been making them for years. But this is an outright lie. Pure fabrication. A fraud on the public.

Coverage of Jenrick today basically amounts to sane-washing. He didn't criticise judges. He claimed there was a conspiracy by certain judges, who he had discovered and could number, to undermine British law and create open borders.

Chris Philp on R4 yesterday making 3 false statements about the ECHR and the GFA. 1. “The ECHR is mentioned only in the Multi-Party Agreement not the UK/Ireland Agreement.”. Wrong: the latter agreement requires the UK to support the former: they can’t be pulled apart like that.

"I see gangs of masked thugs roaming the streets rounding up anyone the wrong colour, and I think: *this* is what Britain needs."

Freedom is just another name for “a gap in the law”.

Couldn’t agree more with this para from @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

There are lots of reasons not to leave ECHR. But apart from anything else, it just doesn't solve the problem the Tories/Reform think it does. E.g. the Supreme Court judgment re Rwanda being unsafe explicitly said it was not based on ECHR.

Rabbit, by Chas & Dave. Film: Fatal Attraction.

Incredible work. Reminds me (on a much smaller scale) of the client who drove to court to be sentenced for a large fraud and false documents conspiracy and told me he’d only paid for 3 hours’ parking. As he’d previously been advised, he’d have needed 3 years’.

What on earth are all the UK lawyers doing? A short explainer and a job offer /1

50% of the time is complaining about snowflakes, the rest of their time is being snowflakier than any lefty or liberal would dare.

If you don’t like being called a racist, maybe don’t make a career of saying things that appeal to racists, don’t create a political party that keeps attracting racist candidates, don’t fawn over racist world leaders, and don’t make a convicted racist the guest of honour at your party conference.

11 hours of discomfort ahead of me. Plus an overnight flight to South Africa down the back of the bus. Just doing my bit to help book sales @barristersecret.bsky.social 1/2

This woman is everything to me

Social media, please settle this domestic row for me. Is a Fray Bentos pie a suitable contribution to a harvest festival?

Hats (periwig) off to @barristersecret.bsky.social for The Cut Throat Trial - a most superior courtroom thriller. Smart, insightful, accessible and deftly plotted it effortlessly transports you right into the grit, graft and grandeur of a trial. Unputdownable.

This woman is everything to me

URGENT UPDATE! WE NEED YOUR HELP Thanks to everyone who has entered, we've had some amazing pictures. BUT we have not received enough entries! We know social media is a mess & that you're all very busy, but we need your help. Entries are now open until *5th October*

I've just devoured this book by @barristersecret.bsky.social in two days. Tense, edge of your seat stuff, using inside knowledge and turning it into one of the best legal thrillers I've ever read. Available now. Thanks, @panmacmillan.bsky.social for the advance reading copy at #TheakstonsCrime!

#TheCutThroatTrial Fancy a gritty legal thriller with addictive characters and a fucking awful (in a good way) twist? Course you do, flower. (Oh, and still inexplicably half price here www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Throat-T...)

#TheCutThroatTrial Fancy a gritty legal thriller with addictive characters and a fucking awful (in a good way) twist? Course you do, flower. (Oh, and still inexplicably half price here www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Throat-T...)

Does your pet look good in a horsehair wig? Do they deserve to be seen and admired by thousands? Why not dress them up as a lawyer and submit their photo for inclusion in this year’s Law Paw Calendar (www.lawpawcalendar.com)? All proceeds will go to @savechildrenuk.bsky.social

Thrilled to be joining the esteemed @thejeremyvine.bsky.social and @barristersecret.bsky.social on October 4 for 2025’s best one-day crime-writing festival, @chilternkills.bsky.social. We’re the New Kids on the Chopping Block, the debut authors’ panel. Get your ticket at www.chilternkills.com

I’m slightly concerned at the number of people who have taken this seriously