A Time to Kill

"My first book, “A Time to Kill,” is still my favorite, and Jake Brigance is still my favorite character."

"This was the holiday reading book which, as a teenager, inspired me to pursue criminal law. The gritty reality of criminal practice is of course somewhat removed from the fictionalised ideal, and any lawyer acting in an English or Welsh court in the way that our hero Jake Brigance does in securing a just outcome for his innocent client would have to deal with fairly serious professional consequences. But the underlying themes transcend time and realities. “This was the holiday-reading book which, as a teenager, inspired me to pursue criminal law” Criminal justice only works if we have fair and independent prosecutors and tireless and courageous defence lawyers. It is too easily assumed, even given the cases we see and hear about in the papers and pop culture, that the criminal process is simply a production line in convicting the guilty person correctly accused by the police; that miscarriages of justice aren’t really a thing; that defence lawyers only exist to get their plainly guilty clients off on technicalities. The uncomfortable eternal truths lurking in the shadows of our society—corrupt police officers, vexatious accusers, administrative incompetence and institutionalised prejudice—mean that we should never be so complacent as to assume that proper legal defence representation is a luxury. It is a fundamental right, and a necessary safeguard in keeping the system honest. Justice cannot survive without it."