Description
Book SynopsisA Drink at the Bar: A memoir of crime, justice and overcoming personal demons is the witty, opinionated and revealing memoirs of Judge
Graham Boal QC, a criminal barrister for thirty years before serving as a judge for nine years until his retirement as a Permanent Judge at London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in 2005.
Boal's career highlights included his being the legendary George Carman's junior in the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe's trial for conspiracy to murder in 1979, leading for the Crown at the Appeal of the Birmingham Six in 1991 and becoming First Senior Treasury Counsel. His memories of key cases in his career are fascinating but his day-to-day experiences, and the underlying legal issues and happenstance, are every bit as revealing and interesting.
Boal has been described as ‘clubbable’, a man who enjoys cricket, golf and life in a Norfolk village, but as his brilliant career progressed he found himself increasingly dependent on the demon alcohol. He went into treatment for alcoholism and depression in 1993, and has been a recovering alcoholic ever since, including his years as a judge at the Old Bailey, the court at which most of the most serious criminal cases in the country are tried.
This intriguing memoir reveals the many inside stories of classic criminal cases and the author is unstinting in his analysis of his professional achievements and personal struggles. This will be an essential read for all those interested in legal and political issues and the toll that the pressures of high office can put on one’s personal life and wellbeing. The author is now a trustee and board member of WDP, a leading addiction charity.
Trade ReviewWitty and engaging. It offers a fascinating ringside seat at some of the most high-profile trials in modern English legal history, together with a brutally honest account of the writer’s descent into alcoholism and depression — and his rise out of it.
As you would expect from a former Old Bailey judge, Graham Boal QC is searingly honest about the challenges he has faced — and overcome. Well aware that, as he puts it, “there are few more boring experiences than ploughing through the reminiscences of retired barristers and judges”, Boal takes us through his early life and career at a reasonably brisk pace. Writing about one’s human frailties is entirely commendable and Boal, 77, dedicates his book to the Westminster Drug Project, where he serves as a trustee and board member. While later chapters of Boal’s book make for painful reading, this is a story with a happy ending. Boal recovered. Despite everything, then, [he] considers himself to be a very lucky man indeed. -- Joshua Rozenburg * A Lawyer Writes *
...a searingly honest and engaging account of failings and redemption.
Offering readers a candid portrayal of his alcoholism and depression, which were inevitably intertwined, this book’s appeal extends beyond the narrow readership of practising lawyers and fellow judges. His angst may regularly punctuate the narrative, washed down with recollections of tumblers full of whisky, but they do not dominate Boal’s story. Instead, they are neatly interwoven with his 30-year stretch as a criminal barrister, during which time he became First Senior Treasury Counsel. -- Dominic Carman * Reports Legal *
This book is marvellous fun and gloriously entertaining. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
