(Approximately 103,000 Words)
This book is the fictional biography of Prem Iyer, an Asian barrister, practising in England and Wales. It narrates with sufficient detail, and in a manner interesting and easily comprehensible to the lay reader, what the English Bar is really like. Despite contentions to the contrary, aspirants to the Bar - particularly those from the ethnic minorities - have found themselves confronted with enormous artificial barriers. There are still too many of these left, like the finding of pupillages, the obtaining of tenancies, of getting instructed and finally, of being paid. The principal character in the book did, in the course of his career, overcome all of them. The state of the present law, the operation of the legal system, its unjust impact in several ways upon the man in the street and constructive suggestions on what changes ought to be made to improve the system, confluent with the story, all appear in the course of the book.
The opening chapter which is concerned with Prem Iyer’s successful defence of a very serious charge of sexual abuse wherewith the reader’s interest is immediately engaged, sets the style and the theme of the narrative. The author has tried to hold it throughout the book. Further, he has privileged the reader to enter into (a) the position of the principal character sharing the development of his practice and (b) advancement with him in his profession. The criminal cases described and dealt with until acquittal or conviction include, murder, rape, robbery and theft; the civil ones are taken up to their final conclusions. Any ordinary person of average ability reading this book will discover that he/she is more than capable of coping with all the legal matters adumbrated. The book spans a period of just over twenty-five years and it concludes with a judicial invitation to Prem Iyer to apply for Silk -to become a Queen’s Counsel. This is the story about him getting there.
There are two necessary interludes: one, Austrian with a romantic attachment, the other Spanish, with a historical reference, entertainingly linked to events in Prem Iyer’s early student days.
As at the time of writing all matters of law, practice and procedure related in the book were accurate.
Karm Arger