Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer (eBook)

A radical lawyer with an unparalleled commitment to his clients, driven by anger at injustice and hypocrisy, intelligent, handsome and dynamic, Michael Mansfield has been tearing down the citadels of arcane legal conventions for more than forty years. Unafraid of rejection or failure, Michael has taken on the most difficult and challenging cases of our times and despite the odds, won plenty. In Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer Michael dissects many of them, revealing his motivations, meticulous approach to forensic science, cross examination techniques, the political dimensions and emotional reactions with clarity, subtlety and charm. Interspersed with personal anecdotes and recollections, this insightful book is liberally laced with Michael's quirky brand of anarchic humour.

Cases range from the Angry Brigade, the Bradford 12, the Birmingham Six, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Angela Cannings, Jill Dando, Ruth Ellis, Dodi Fayed, the 'Fertilizer' conspiracy, Iraqi hi-jackers, Stephen Lawrence, Fatmir Limaj (Leader of the Kosovan Liberation Army), the Marchioness Disaster, the Price sisters, the 'Ricin' trial, Risley prison riots, Tahira Tabassum, Judith Ward, Arthur Scargill and the miners to the Jean Charles de Menezes inquiry, and many more. Issues of public concern, human rights and innovative attempts to construct a democratic legal system are discussed in full, but Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer also unveils with honesty and wit a man who has put as much passion and energy into his life as his work, one of the great personalities of our time.

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'I hugely admire him ... This book is not just a show-off catalogue of his greatest hits. It is a shaming, chilling list of injustices' A.N. Wilson'A fascinating and passionate record of the author's major cases in courts, inquests and public inquiries, whose context will be as familiar to the general reader as to the lawyer' SpectatorMichael Mansfield, QC, is Britain's most high-profile defence lawyer, whose unparalleled commitment to his clients and radical approach to forensics, evidence and disclosure have made him a scourge of the establishment and a champion of the individual in many miscarriages of justice cases.Passionate about unveiling corruption and unafraid to challenge received wisdom, he has taken on many of the most controversial cases of our times, including the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Angela Cannings, Jill Dando and Barry George, Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana, Stephen Lawrence, Arthur Scargill and the miners and the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes.Dissecting these cases with incisive intelligence, subtlety and humour, and interspersing revealing personal reminiscences he offers a fascinating insight into the idiosyncrasies of the English legal system and how it has changed from the late 1960s to the present.