Brothers in Law is a light comedy on the life of a pupil-barrister Roger Thursby in the immediate post-war period.

The book was a popular success across the board (and was made into two films). But it may be especially enjoyable for young barristers and solicitors.

Despite being written almost 70 years ago, many of the stories there still have a ring of truth even to the 21st century barrister, e.g.

  • Thursby’s stress at having to get up and report an urgent matter to the Judge, especially after being reminded (and shouted down) twice for waiting his turn by the Judge.
  • Thursby’s cross-examination of a prosecution witness on an important date with reference to a contemporaneous document.
  • Thursby discovering a tricky legal point; asking about and a finding a CA authority in his favour; appearing before a Judge (who was not originally listed to hear the case) and the Judge inviting submissions on whether it can be distinguished on a narrow and novel basis; Thursby getting a leader to make submissions but still getting a ruling against him.
  • Thursby sitting in and listening to different judges dealing with undefended divorces and judgment debtor summonses, and discovering the great variety of ways judges deal with these applications where only one side is represented.

It is not surprising at all that Henry Cecil was in fact a real life barrister and judge, Henry Cecil Leon.

But even among the ranks of barrister-authors, Brothers in Law stands out for its breath and realism. John Mortimer’s Rumpole practises mainly in crime; and his clients are often not guilty due to some ingeniously discovered facts. Sarah Caudwell’s Hilary Tamar series have a slant towards tax / probate and inheritance law, and are (excellent) detective stories (as opposed to a portrait of the profession).

In terms of fiction based on the pupillage/early practice period: Tim Kevan’s Law and Disorder and Law and Peace tends towards the fantastic; whereas Harry Mount’s My Brief Career doesn’t seem to touch on doing cases at all.

For non-fiction: Denys Roberts’s Another Disaster covers some amusing cases, but one’s attention is inevitably focused on the atmosphere of colonial civil service in Hong Kong, a very different dynamic to private practice.

Patrick Yu’s two memoirs and Thomas Grant’s books on John Hutchinson, Sydney Kentridge, and important Old Bailey trials are very good, but they (very ably) cover important high-profile cases, which can feel a bit out a reach for (most) junior barristers.

All these are very enjoyable reads in their own right, but for the best mix of comedy and taste of life in the Bar in all its manifold glories and frustration, Brothers in Law is the best I found so far. I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of the Thursby trilogy (Friends at Court and Sober as a Judge).