Sunday 21 December 2008

Lawyers as Authors


Neil Rose is a novelist who also works as a writer in the legal profession. He edits The Legal Executive Journal and contributes to other legal magazines. Naturally he has a keen interest in the link between fiction writing and the law – which I share.

In the UK, there are many fewer practising lawyers who publish fiction than in the US, for reasons that aren’t really clear to me (surely it cannot be that British lawyers work harder or are less literate?!) But there have been a few of us over the years, including in the past such notable names as Cyril Hare and Michael Gilbert. In the last year or two, the new kids on the block have included fellow crime writer Neil White, whom I met a few times this year (most memorably on the night of the CWA Dagger Awards).

Neil Rose has just published, in the Law Society’s Gazette, an article about lawyers who write fiction and which features some of us. Here is the link: Solicitors as Authors

4 comments:

Cornflower said...

How interesting, and I can see how the two professions require many of the same skills! (I speak as a former lawyer).

Martin Edwards said...

So you escaped, Cornflower! And I have to admit that I'm not sure I've ever met an ex-lawyer who regrets giving up the work, interesting though I find it. Thought-provoking...

Roger Cornwell said...

What about Frances Fyfield? She did win the final CWA Duncan Lawrie Dagger earlier this year, and as her biography states: "She studied English and went on to qualify as a solicitor, working for what is now the Crown Prosecution Service, and thus learning a bit about murder at second hand." So perhaps she counts as another escaped lawyer?

Martin Edwards said...

Quite right, Roger. Frances is featured in Neil Rose's article, and rightly so. She is not only an outstanding novelist, but very good at making use, sometimes in an unorthodox way, of her legal expertise.