From the Chapter “NOSTALGIE DE LA BAR” “I have always said that the strength of this Profession is not found in the great sonorously omnipotent legal mills with their Persian rugs and overpriced artwork, but is found in every young lawyer who gets on her or his hind legs in a hostile courtroom before an incompetent or stupid judge, opposed by a sanctimonious puke of a prosecutor, defending a notoriously opprobrious client who has lied and prevaricated from day one, and says, in a calm and confident and clear voice, “I defend this prisoner!” The suggestion that a law firm, purporting to be made up of professionals who have qualified to practice our Profession, should be obsessed with the efficacy of its ‘brand’ at large is anathema to those of us who are practicing Barristers. One could well ask, what is to regret with the passing of those early years? Nostalgia is a powerful emotional sentiment that infects all of us at a certain age and perspective, when we find ourselves making comparisons and noting contrasts. Conclusion: one is at one with the moneyed old bag in Beyond the Fringe’s superb satire on The War: ”I said to my husband – as he then was – Squiffy, this is the end of an era.”

From the Chapter “IMPACT OF THE COMPUTER” “I should think if a criminal lawyer is addicted to his or her social media feed, he or she will need to consider everything he/she types, posts, shares and uploads. One must check, for example, the security of one’s profile to know what other people can see. What you once thought was private might have become public. In sum, I fail to see how any person can claim to have 3,752 ‘friends’ and never have met any of them. Some of them may not be friendly. That settles it. If I want a friend, I’ll buy a dog.”