Rather His Own Man: In Court with Tyrants, Tarts and Troublemakers by Geoffrey Robertson

Australian-born, British by adoption, the legendary lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson, QC, who has acted both for and against such luminaries as Julian Assange, Vaclav Havel, George Harrison and General Pinochet, has written a ruminant, riveting and consistently witty memoir that belies many a dry biography that precedes it. Gone the frequently earnest texts of such tomes, replaced by a refreshingly optimistic, matter-of-fact account of a legal life well lived.
As founder of the much respected Doughty Street Chambers, which sports 150 lawyers and is the largest human rights practice in Britain, he oversees a hugely successful venture that prides itself on fairness, decency and humanity. As such, he has encountered an enormous range of cases, ranging from individuals to the State (e.g. Margaret Thatcher, whose typical intransigence over the Spycatcher case is here exposed for the first time).
He has also encountered a broad range of characters, many of whom have become personal friends. He courted Nigella Lawson and married Kathy Lette; befriended Jeremy Hutchinson (who himself pleaded such cases as Christine Keeler and the Great Train Robber); invited Kylie Minogue to dine with the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in a misguided effort to loosen him up (an event that was noted with some amusement at the time, and even discussed in Parliament); and acted for the much maligned Salman Rushdie. But, perhaps most of all, he joined forces with Amal Alamuddin, a human rights barrister of great distinction herself, whose manifold talents were such that he was able to persuade her to join the firm, and whose later introduction to George Clooney was effected by a mutual friend.
This is an engaging, rewarding and sociable book, written with flair and humour, and is warmly recommended, as much for the general reader as the trade.
More autobiography video book reviews at:
www.bookreviewsandvideos.com/...
Watch blooper version at:
www.bookreviewsandvideos.com/...