Law and Order: UK - getting any better?
Mar. 2nd, 2009 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerAs you may recall I thought last week's opener to be rather uneven, mixing good legal points with some rather dodgy ones. This week was also uneven, but in a rather more straightforward manner: the first half of the episode was by and large pretty sensible, and then it went completely bonkers with the whole 'warrior gene' defence.
Having said that, it made a good point about the impact on a young and vulnerable defendant of actually running such a defence, and was careful to depict the variations made to Crown Court trials when a juvenile is in the dock (e.g. more informal procedure and court dress.)
And there was one good (or at least honest) and one bad aspect of the depiction of barristers. The honest one? Yes, barristers do sometimes find themselves on the receiving end of the ire of the other side's relatives, or even their own client's family if they don't get the desired result. Worse than what was shown has happened to my tutors.
The bad one? The CPS counsel saying how he gave up defence work because he couldn't sleep at night. For heaven's sake, any barrister who finds himself or herself feeling like that should give up the Bar altogether. It is drummed into us from day one of the BVC (and indeed mentioned pretty regularly through law school) that the overriding professional duty of counsel is to fearlessly and selflessly represent the best interests of the client. If you are uncomfortable doing that, then advocacy is not for you.
Once upon a time, in the era of Rumpole, it was the defence barrister who was the hero, protecting the innocent, or at least misunderstood, from the harsh and unsympathetic prosecution. Now, in our crime-obsessed era, I rather feel the tables have turned.
Having said that, it made a good point about the impact on a young and vulnerable defendant of actually running such a defence, and was careful to depict the variations made to Crown Court trials when a juvenile is in the dock (e.g. more informal procedure and court dress.)
And there was one good (or at least honest) and one bad aspect of the depiction of barristers. The honest one? Yes, barristers do sometimes find themselves on the receiving end of the ire of the other side's relatives, or even their own client's family if they don't get the desired result. Worse than what was shown has happened to my tutors.
The bad one? The CPS counsel saying how he gave up defence work because he couldn't sleep at night. For heaven's sake, any barrister who finds himself or herself feeling like that should give up the Bar altogether. It is drummed into us from day one of the BVC (and indeed mentioned pretty regularly through law school) that the overriding professional duty of counsel is to fearlessly and selflessly represent the best interests of the client. If you are uncomfortable doing that, then advocacy is not for you.
Once upon a time, in the era of Rumpole, it was the defence barrister who was the hero, protecting the innocent, or at least misunderstood, from the harsh and unsympathetic prosecution. Now, in our crime-obsessed era, I rather feel the tables have turned.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-03 12:42 am (UTC)Do they give up the wigs? They scare me. I had to go to court in Kenya (very British style). The judge was way up high behind a raised carved wooden desk and he sported a grey 17th century wig on his head.
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Date: 2009-03-03 09:04 am (UTC)That said i think the episode worked the way he intended. So far i'm enjoying the show more than expected - even if it is mostly for teh cockney cops and posh lawyer aspect :)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-03 10:34 pm (UTC)