Book description
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.
Michael Mansfield QC was born in 1941 and educated at Highgate School
and Keele University. Called to the Bar in 1967, he established Tooks
Chambers, in 1984 and became Queen's Counsel in 1989. He has represented
defendants in criminal trials, appeals, inquests and inquiries in some
of the most controversial legal cases the country has seen, particularly
where issues of Civil Liberty have arisen; he is President and Patron of
numerous organisations including the Haldane, Amicus and Viva!,
Professor and Honorary Fellow of many universities as well as being a
regular contributor to public debates on human rights issues.
