Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer

by Mansfield, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781408801291
• ISBN10: 1408801299
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-08
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

Michael Mansfield, QC, is Britain's most high-profile defence lawyer, whose unparalleled commitment to his clients and radical approach to forensics, evidence and disclosure have made him a scourge of the establishment and a champion of the individual in many miscarriages of justice cases. Passionate about unveiling corruption and unafraid to challenge received wisdom, he has taken on many of the most controversial cases of our times, including the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Angela Cannings, Jill Dando and Barry George, Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana, Stephen Lawrence, Arthur Scargill and the miners and, most recently, the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes. Dissecting these cases with incisive intelligence, subtlety and humour, and interspersing revealing personal reminiscences he offers a fascinating insight into the idiosyncrasies of the English legal system and how it has changed from the late 1960s to the present.

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Prologue: Veins and Vanity	p. xi
'Michael, You See What You Want to See!': From Finchley to Philosophy	p. 1
Getting Inn: A Brief Life	p. 14
Drugs, Rock and Law 'Operation Julie', The Cambridge Two	p. 22
Prints and Impressions: The Angry Brigade and the Fallibility of Forensic Science	p. 30
Parents at Risk: Angela Cannings and the Frontiers of Forensic Science	p. 45
1984: Miners and Milestones	p. 68
The Slenderest Thread: A Case of Who Dunnit?	p. 94
The Need to Know: The Marchioness Disaster, the Murder of Stephen Lawrence	p. 109
The Trouble with Ireland: The Price Sisters, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry	p. 145
That Little Tent of Blue: Prison Riots	p. 172
The Magic Bullet?: The Challenge of DNA	p. 188
Cops and Robbers: Carl Bridgewater and the Travesty of Confessions	p. 202
The Switch: Freedom Fighter or Terrorist?	p. 227
Lifting the Lid: Judith Ward and Disclosure	p. 251
Shared Experience: The Dept ford fire, the Bradford Twelve, the Mangrove and Spike Milligan...	p. 266
The Execution: Ruth Ellis, Mahmoud Mattan	p. 278
No ExSkuse: The Birmingham Six	p. 293
Big Brother: Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed	p. 314
Milk, Muck and Methane: The McLibel Two	p. 336
Juries in Jeopardy: The Fertiliser and Ricin Conspiracy Trials	p. 348
Taking Stock: Jean Charles de Menezes	p. 376
Law, Not War: Yes, We Can!	p. 418
Afterword	p. 447
Acknowledgements	p. 451
Notes	p. 453
Further Reading	p. 465
Index	p. 485
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