header-logo header-logo

Book review: Leading Cases in Song

28 March 2014 / Sally Thomas
Issue: 7600 / Categories: Features
printer mail-detail
leading_cases_in_song_cover

"Many of the jokes are laugh-out-loud funny & the language stylish"

Author: Stephen Todd
Publisher: Brookers Ltd/Thomson Reuter
ISBN: 9780864728449
Price: NZ$50

A whirlwind of ingenuity, wit and humour, Stephen Todd’s Leading Cases in Song is less a novelty book than a surreal journey into a parallel world teeming with a life of its own and peopled by a weird and wonderful cast of celebrities, eccentrics and other characters whose brushes with the law have become judicial landmarks.

Circus animals, bumble bees, sex and drugs—it’s all there, but this is opera, not rock and roll.

The material can be appreciated on several levels, for its legal knowledge, for the language, for the music or for sheer fun and is best enjoyed by the reader who can sing along with the music at full volume in the privacy of his or her own home (preferably not on your train to work).

Surprisingly perhaps, you don’t have to be a Gilbert and Sullivan buff, a lawyer or even musical to appreciate

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
back-to-top-scroll