Nothing But The Truth: The Memoir of an Unlikely Lawyer

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The Sunday Times bestseller and a BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' Full of hilarious and shocking stories, the Secret Barrister's memoir Nothing But The Truth tracks their transformation from hang 'em and flog 'em austerity-supporter to celebrated, campaigning, bestselling author. 'Masterful, compassionate and hilarious' - Adam Rutherford In a diary that takes us behind the scenes of their middling ambition, Nothing But The Truth charts an outsider's progress down the winding path towards practising at the Bar. By way of the painfully archaic traditions of the Inns of Court, where every meal mandates a glass of port and a toast to the monarch, and the Hunger Games-style contest for pupillage - which most don't survive - here is the brilliant reality of being a frustrated junior barrister. With a keen eye for the absurd and an obsessive fondness for Twitter, SB reveals the uncomfortable truths and darkest secrets about life in our criminal courts. _____ 'Words tumble out with extraordinary fluency . . . entertaining and instructive' - The Times 'Written with compassion, wit and intelligence' - TLS 'Excellent . . . at once a vicious polemic, a helpful primer and a cringe-inducing account of one barrister's travails' - The Telegraph

Reviews

Entertaining and instructive . . . A gifted writer . . . The Secret Barrister's picaresque journey to barristerhood is served up with large helpings of humour * The Times *
Wonderful and insightful . . . With compassion, wit and intelligence, the Secret Barrister shows why is it that any of us plunge into the harrowing depths of criminal law * TLS *
Excellent . . . at once a vicious polemic, a helpful primer and a cringe-inducing account of one barristers travails * Telegraph *
As entertaining as ever in this third foray into the courtroom * Radio Times *
Eye-opening. The candour is, at times, breathtaking . . . it is both human and urgent . . . A no-holds-barred book that tells an unvarnished story of a broken system an the people who hold it together * Law Society's Gazette *
As compelling and illuminating - and as full of gob-smacking stories - as its predecessors, it is also fascinatingly personal. Anyone thinking of a career in the law should certainly read it * Bookseller *

Author Bio

The Secret Barrister is a junior barrister specializing in criminal law, and the author of the award-winning blog of the same name. The Secret Barrister writes for many publications, including The Times, the Guardian, New Statesman, iNews, Esquire and Counsel magazine. In 2016 and 2017, the Secret Barrister was named Independent Blogger of the Year at the Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards. In 2018, the Secret Barrister was named Legal Personality of the Year at the Law Society Awards. Their first book, The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken, was a Sunday Times number-one bestseller and was in the top-ten bestseller list for more than a year. It won the Books Are My Bag Non-Fiction Award 2018, and was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year and the Specsavers Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2018. Their second book, Fake Law, was published in 2020 and was an instant Sunday Times bestseller.