“George Carman was a titan of the English Bar and Karen Phillipps knew him better than anyone.” - Thomas Grant KC, barrister and author of 'Court Number One'
“As for many barristers of my generation, George Carman was my legal idol. He possessed a matchless gift for court craft. His piercing cross-examinations and unparalleled talent for devastating one-line zingers were truly the stuff of legend. In this wonderful and beautifully written book, Karen Phillipps reminds us all why anybody in legal trouble – the bad, the sad and sometimes the mad – would (if they could) do anything to get Carman.” - Rob Rinder MBE
George Carman QC was, and perhaps still is, Britain’s most famous lawyer within living memory. Equally feared and respected, he made his name as an erudite and incisive advocate largely in the field of libel. Coming to prominence with his superb defence of disgraced former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe on a charge of conspiracy to murder, Carman subsequently defended many well-known faces from the worlds of entertainment, sport, politics and business, including Ken Dodd, Richard Branson and Elton John.
Away from court, Carman was a complex and private yet not unsociable man. In 1986, he met barrister Karen Phillipps and, although she turned down his immediate marriage proposal, the two would have a close platonic relationship for the rest of Carman’s life.
Carman intended to write his memoirs but became too ill to complete the book and died in 2001. Using his papers, press cuttings and court transcripts – along with the testimonies of some of those who saw him in action and her own extensive memories of her close friend –Phillipps presents a portrait of this eminent advocate through the cases that made him famous. All the drama of the courtroom world that Carman belonged to is here, along with some of the best and most entertaining theatre the English justice system has ever seen.
