Brothers in Law

I was fresh from reading a classic Jeeves and Wooster comedy novel by British author P.G. Wodehouse when I first came across some books by Henry Cecil, once a British barrister and judge. So I was in the mood to dive into one of his classic comedies about the British legal system.

With the bit of knowledge I already had about English courts, I was quite ready for the courtly robes and wigs. What I wasn't as ready for? Almost all of the other technical aspects of Roger's new work as a barrister.

The only explanations that would come were from other characters in Roger's professional field, when he would ask them questions, being the newbie he is. And while I expected the story to come from Roger's perspective, and most of it does, show more sometimes it doesn't, when the narrator suddenly jumps into someone else's head. What with my being jarred by the narrator's switches a few times, and my having to get a feel for what wasn't explained about the setting and whatnot, it took a little while for my reading to get into a groove.

Once it did, I started enjoying it quite a bit—getting into the legal complications of Roger's cases and laughing out loud at his funniest moments at work. And moments in his muddled romantic life.

This was well on its way to becoming a five-star read for me—until I ran into one casual, distasteful racial expression I've read in British fiction before, referring to Black people. No, it isn't the N-word, but I still don't like it. So a fifth star didn't make it onto my rating.

Besides that, pretty much everything else about this comedy has me looking forward to trying its sequel sometime. Maybe I'll even check out the 1957 film based on the book? We'll see.

Note:
• language kept to a "PG" level, with some nonliteral uses of the alternate word for donkey and one occurrence of the B-word
• one dated racial expression
• no graphic violence
• no explicit sexual content show less

A FUND OF FUNNY LEGAL STORIES FROM THE FIFTIES WHICH IS TIMELESS

This work remains an excellent introduction to the problems which many trainee barristers face today even though it is a very old book now covering a period when pupils paid for their pupillages and you could appear robed in court on day one. As to be expected with Henry Cecil, it is a series of his short story (porbably mostly true) on the theme of pupillage in 1950s.

And, at the same time, the problems advocates face today are quite well covered in this funny set of legal stories which many in the legal profession did not take to initially all those years ago! We can view the situations with much more relaxed humour today as the class divide has been bridged to a certain show more extent.

Recent books on pupillage still recommend Henry Cecil's 'Brothers in Law' and I do advise students to watch the very funny film starring Ian Carmichael as a rather priggish Roger Thursby who has just been called to the Bar. Cecil was a County Court judge, His Honour Judge Leon.

The importance of this book is about the people that it portrays as the client problem and the judge problem still remains even though new technology has intervened. What comes out of the book is the type of character we come across as lawyers every day...and how they don't really change down the ages.

I watched the film again recently and had another look at the book which remains a firm favourite with me as a nostalgic trip back in time to a different age for the barrister. Do get it as it is still my friend in court, even now, and entertaining with that sparkle of truth which always runs through the law and its clients, even now! - show less

This book was very entertaining and quite a respite from fears, frights, death and destruction.