MovieChat Forums > Silk (2011) Discussion > Some comments and suggestions

Some comments and suggestions

posted 11 years ago by cherns-2
3 replies | jump to latest

I've just seen the Pilot, and so far I haven't been knocked over. The show seems to regard silk-ness as the most important issue in a barrister's life--it's as if a detective show revolved around the question "Will this case hurt or enhance my chances to become a DCI?" instead of Whodunnit?, or a medical or corporate show revolved around the question "Will this hurt or enhance my chances for a promotion?" instead of the medical or corporate problem.

And could someone who steals a gown and wig from one of a very small number of legal tailors really hope to get away with it? Being identified as a thief would surely be a one-way ticket out of the profession.

And would someone yawning through a balaclava, covering his mouth with his gloved hand (which one?) and then opening a door (with which hand?), necessarily leave DNA on the knob? Would the cops necessarily test the knob for DNA as well as fingerprints? Hearing that the perpetrator wore gloves throughout, would they even try? Mightn't the perpetrator try to obliterate traces by rubbing with the glove?

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For those unfamiliar with the British legal system, I have a few suggestions for background:

Sarah Caudwell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Caudwell) wrote four IMHO completely charming novels/mysteries about a group of four young barristers, starting with Thus Was Adonis Murdered. One of the common themes is their hatred and fear of their clerk, Henry, who is nominally their shared employee, but who is also their taskmaster, accepting assignments on their behalfs and doling them out. (When my wife and I were in Britain last year, we very much enjoyed our walking tour of the Inns of Court, and were thrilled to be in New Square, Lincoln's Inn, home to the chambers of Caudwell's barristers.)

In Rumpole of the Bailey, a book and tv series about a barrister of the criminal court (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpole_of_the_Bailey), old hand Rumpole persistently resists becoming a QC; a QC has certain prestige and privileges in court, and gets paid better than a junior, but also is somewhat limited--because of the higher fees, a QC is often less likely to be chosen to appear on behalf of clients who are less well-heeled. That's the other side of silk-ness.

In A Fish Called Wanda (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095159/reference) the barrister played by John Cleese is scandalized by the attempts of Jamie Lee Curtis to communicate with him directly on behalf of her fellow thief and his defendant, and tries repeatedly to run away. All communications are supposed to go through the defendant's solicitor.

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I wonder why so many of the 419 scam emails I get purport to come from a barrister purportedly trying to clear up an inheritance. Wills and such are the province of solicitors, not barristers.

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Here in Canada (outside of Quebec, with its different legal system), lawyers generally style themselves Barristers and Solicitors, although individuals within a firm may specialize in various aspects of the law. There are no such institutions such as Inns of Court or barrister's chambers.

And again here in Canada, QCs are the gift of governments, mostly provincial. Regardless of what Wikipedia says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_counsel#Canada), they used to be given out politically--usually the appointees were lawyers who were hacks of various sorts (politicians, bagmen, etc.) for the party currently in power. (It's much less of a deal here than in the UK--QCs have the prestige and the gowns and seniority, but there isn't such a big deal in fees and such.) When the social-democratic party gained power (for the first time ever) in the province of Ontario, it not only decided not to create any more QCs, but also abolished all the current ones. One Ontario QC was so outraged that he formally changed his name to include the "QC."

And I'm not sure about other provinces, but here in British Columbia, most prosecutions are represented by the barristers of the Crown Prosecution Services, but occasionally they may hire an outside counsel for a particular case--typically a high-profile one, or one where there might be a conflict of interest.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] cherns-2 11 years ago

This show and the discussions have led me to re-enjoy some of Sarah Caudwell's wonderful mysteries. Here's a relevant passage from the first pages of Thus Was Adonis Murdered:

Henry is the Clerk at [the chambers of] 62 New Square. From references which will from time to time be made to him some of my readers, unfamiliar with the system, may infer that Selena and the rest are employed by Henry under a contract more or less equivalent to one of personal servitude. I should explain that this is not the case: they employ Henry. It is Henry's function, in exchange for ten per cent of their earnings, to deal on their behalf with the outside world: to administer, manage and negotiate; to extol their merits, gloss over their failings, justify their fees and extenuate their delays; to flatter those clients whose patronage is most lucrative; to write reproachfully to those who delay payment for more than two years or so; to promise with equal conviction in the same morning that six separate sets of papers will be the first to receive attention. By the outside world, I mean, of course, solicitors: nothing could be more improper than for a member of the English Bar to have dealings, without the intervention of a solicitor, with a member of the general public.

As long as I'm quoting, I can't help myself from including another passage, the one with which a friend introduced me to the junior bar of 62 and 63 New Square. The narrator is Hilary Tamar, professor of the History of Law at Oxford; he or she has come down to London to do some research:

On my first day in London I made an early start. Reaching the Public Record Office not much after ten, I soon secured the papers needed for my research and settled in my place. I became, as is the way of the scholar, so deeply absorbed as to lose all consciousness of my surroundings or of the passage of time. When at last I came to myself, it was almost eleven and I was quite exhausted. I knew I could not prudently continue without refreshment.

[–] beary08-517-817915 11 years ago

Bit off topic but I'm in Ontario and just learned about the QC abolishing thing recently. Blew.my.mind. I can't believe they did that.