Preview
  • The Secret Barrister

  • Stories of the Law and How It's Broken
  • By: The Secret Barrister
  • Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
  • Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (66 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Secret Barrister

By: The Secret Barrister
Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.14

Buy for $18.14

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

An anonymous barrister's darkly comic and moving first-hand account of life in the legal system, and how it's failing us all.

The Sunday Times number one bestseller.

Winner of the Books are My Bag Non-Fiction Award.

Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year.

Shortlisted for Specsavers Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

You may not wish to think about it, but one day you or someone you love will almost certainly appear in a criminal courtroom. You might be a juror, a victim, a witness or – perhaps through no fault of your own – a defendant. Whatever your role, you’d expect a fair trial.

I’m a barrister. I work in the criminal justice system, and every day I see how fairness is not guaranteed. Too often the system fails those it is meant to protect. The innocent are wronged and the guilty allowed to walk free.

In The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken I want to share some stories from my daily life to show you how the system is broken, who broke it and why we should start caring before it’s too late.

A Sunday Times top ten bestseller for twenty-four weeks.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 The Secret Barrister (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

'Eye-opening, damning and hilarious' – Tim Shipman, author of All Out War and Fall Out

‘Eye-opening, funny and horrifying’ – Observer

‘Everyone who has any interest in public life should read it’ – Daily Mail

What listeners say about The Secret Barrister

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    51
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    48
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    44
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Review

The book was very informative, well documented and supported with proper examples. The book was read brilliantly. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Shocking but vital

10% inspiring, 40% depressing, 40% fascinating and 10% funny.
I was gifted reading this audiobook by a friend who works, sorry, worked for the CPS. She recently apologetically left her mountainous backlog in the hands of her dwindling colleagues. She gave me no hint as to the tenor of this book but attested to the emotions and truths conveyed within these pages, so well read by the narrator.
The author can reasonably be lauded as a heralding angel of a coming man-made disaster, this time not of the environment but instead, the systems that our ancestors incrementally crafted to protect us. These systems have, through self interest and neglect, been allowed to erode from the inside out. By the time we wider public notice the human cost, the cost to remedy may sadly be too high and a new dark ages of society may be our harvest.
I'd argue this is almost required reading by any inhabitant of the British isles if only to prepare them for that hopefully unlikely day when they find themselves lost in the fickle maelstrom of the legal system.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

very interesting, worth a listen

a very interesting book. not at all what I expected.

slightly scary too!!

a bit dry in places but some very fascinating insight.

the narrator is a bit preachy.

worth a listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narrator is a bit too earnest, but important msg

I found the narrator to be annoying. Like a preachy mate who is right and rubs it in. This doesn't detract from the excellence of the work tho - the UK legal system is a car crash.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Important book

An insider reveals the deep flaws in England’s legal system - and the wide and serious ramifications for society and its members.

The book contains details but is engagingly narrated and humanised with stories of characters who suffer legal injustices - characters that could be people whom we know; they could even be us.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!