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Articles by Abi Silver
The Rapunzel Act
by Abi Silver Burton and Lamb return to represent a woman, formerly a male footballer, charged with the death of her ex-wife, in the first televised court case. Review This is the fourth in the series, all with fairy-tale titles, featuring the solicitor Constance Lamb and Judith Barton QC. As with the three previous books, Constance supplements her duties with a surprising amount of investigative work to give Judith additional ammunition to address the charges in court.
Why don’t we just…
OJ Simpson’s trial in the US in 1995 brought out the worst in everyone. Witnesses became talk show guests even before they gave their testimony, lawyers on both sides achieved notoriety, journalists, constantly looking for the next soundbite, found their home lives torn apart by the rigours of being on call 24/7, the judge was transformed from a benign, amiable figure to a tyrant and jurors felt imprisoned during the trial and were threatened after it ended.
The Rapunzel Act
Written by Abi Silver Review written by Judith Sullivan Judith Sullivan is a writer in Leeds, originally from Baltimore. She is working on a crime series set in Paris. Fluent in French, she’s pretty good with English and has conversational Italian and German. She is working to develop her Yorkshire speak. Lightning Books RRP: £8.99 Released: April 15 2021 PBK This book, the fourth in Silver’s fairy-tale series of crime novels, has its fingers hovering over quite a few hot-button issues.
Books
Jules Mountain has reached Everest Base Camp, within reach of fulfilling his lifeâs ambition, when the earthquake sets off the avalanche. Something sets him apart from the other surviving climbers: is it that he has already cheated death once before? Does his gung-ho attitude show him to be brave, fatalistic or irresponsible? Will he finally have picked a fight he cannot win?
The Cinderella Plan
by Abi Silver James Salisbury heads a company pioneering autonomous vehicles in UK. When his car is involved in a horrific crash, lawyers Burton and Lamb come to his defence. Review This is the third book featuring the legal team of solicitor Constance Lamb and barrister Judith Burton. Once again, they are brought in to assist someone whose fate is bound up with developments in technology affecting society at large, in this case the production of self-drive, or autonomous, vehicles.
The Aladdin Trial
by Abi Silver A woman hospitalised for a minor operation is found dead after a fall from the 11th floor. An immigrant cleaner is accused, and defended by Burton and Lamb. Review When Barbara Hennessy is found to have plunged to her death from a hospital balcony, there appears to be no obvious reason to suspect suicide or foul play.
Book review: Confessions of an English Psychopath
I do not seem to be called on to review many romantic novels or love stories written by solicitors. I am not sure why. Perhaps lawyers want to write novels about darker subjects. It must be the company we keep or perhaps we have a fascination for bad deeds. I admit to going on holiday with a volume of the Great British Trials books. This is an interesting tale by a former solicitor about a man who is recruited by a shadowy organisation to cleanse unwanted people.
Book review: Introduction to the English Legal System
Martin Partington is emeritus professor of law at the University of Bristol. His recently updated Introduction to the English Legal System is absolutely fit for purpose as a gateway into legal systems and, more broadly, the current climate of the profession. The preface to this 2018/19 edition states that the book will ‘provide all those coming new to the study of law [at] A-level, degree or postgraduate conversion level, with an overview of the context within which law is made and practised’.
Book review: A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting (4th edition)
This is an extraordinary book by a determined and analytical thinker. It offers an alternative to traditional contract drafting, which the author describes as ‘a slurry of archaisms, redundancy, chaotic verb structures, overlong sentences, and confusing terminology’. His solution? Adopt a style guide, give lawyers templates that follow it, and train them to draft and revise in the same style. Sadly, that guide is not yet written.
Book review: Finding the write way to make a good expression
This new reference book exists because so much legal writing is assembled from often-used but seldom-explained words and phrases. It seeks to answer these questions for most commonly used words, phrases and writing habits: ‘What does this achieve?’ and ‘Is there a better way to say it?’. It offers a guide to best usage in legal writing, in 700 pages organised dictionary-style by keyword and topic. Readable as the entries are, this work is not designed to be read from cover to cover.
BOOK REVIEW: Valuable guidance on drafting
In this very navigable book, the authors seem to have only included landmark cases and a concise list of legislation which, for me at least, has ensured a greater focus on how to draft, without being overwhelmed with too much case law and too many statutes. However, one thing I felt was missing was any reference to the General Data Protection Regulation (or the Data Protection Act 2018), but perhaps this just makes this book a little more timeless than it would have been otherwise.
Book review: The Complete Guide to Getting a Solicitor’s Training Contract
Solicitor Sarah Cave’s book covers the basics about the various routes to qualification, how to find out about firms, and preparing for interviews and tests. This book got me thinking about the 1970s when I was contemplating a legal career. The advice then on how to find articles (as they called training contracts) was simple: ask your dad to speak to his solicitor friends, because personal contacts were always best.
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Heatwave madness! All our books half price for one weekend only! There are brilliant summer reading offers, and then there is the Eye & Lightning Books sizzling summer heatwaves half-price sale.
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