In Your Defence

Reviews

This compelling book tracks eleven cases through the criminal and family courts...tales of despair and hope that could be about you or me. Sarah Langford's stated objective is to bring 'to life ideas which otherwise so often appear in abstract: fairness, justice, truth'. The result is a resounding and thought-provoking success....Insightful and often haunting ... Langford starts her journey as a single woman; she ends it married and soon to be a mother. Between times she has been changed. And, over the course of her book, so are we... There are unforgettable descriptions ... As much as these are engrossing stories, written with flair, and in clean, tight prose, Langford has serious points to make...

By turns heartbreaking and hopeful, and succeeds in giving an articulate, compassionate voice to those who would otherwise struggle to be heard.
The prose is engrossing, and the book is only too easy to devour in great gulps ... Langford tackles the frustration and fears of the profession with honesty and energy.

This page-turner gets to the heart of whether or not the legal system delivers justice, impartiality and fair judgment. In Your Defence is an anthology of beautifully rendered stories of legal practice, each striking at the beating heart of our justice system. The storytelling is compelling, reading like page-turning fiction, but speaking in every chapter to fundamental truths about the meaning of justice for those trapped in the wheels of our criminal and family courts. Sarah Langford breathes vibrancy and compassion into the dusty tomes of the law, capturing and exposing the raw humanity lying beneath the system, and offering a necessary reminder of the impact of the law on those whose lives are chartered by its whims.

Editor's Choice: Brilliant, highly illuminating…it’s hard to imagine a better written or more insightful account of life at the bar than this.

Sarah Langford has reinvented a genre ... [as a barrister she has turned] her experience of 11 criminal cases into short stories that are as compelling as fiction, with the added fascination of being essentially true ... Immensely powerful. A compelling read for anyone who cares about fairness, justice and humanity and should be on the reading list of all politicians and policy-makers. [Langford] combines the demands of her job, the stories of those she represents and her own views and emotions with great skill...powerful, moving and often captivating. Vivid... surprisingly uplifting. A thoughtful, elegant book. ... it is often as thrilling as a detective novel. And sometimes it is moving: the last chapter had this reviewer in tears. A riveting account of cases she's fought over nearly 10 years in the family courts. These are harrowing stories: of newborns taken by social services, of bitter divorces, of children trapped in the turbulence of addiction, gangs, or both, an unprecedented collection, moving, enraging and desperate, all told in Langford's cool, compelling prose. Expand reviews