Image: The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken
A crowdfunding campaign to send a copy of The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken to every MP has successfully reached its target in just three days. The book is the work of the anonymous blogger who is behind The Secret Barrister and focuses on the issues currently facing the justice system. The book uses real cases to tackle topics such as legal aid cuts and court closures.
Since its publication on March 22nd, the book has taken the legal world by storm and is currently 13th on the Amazon bestsellers list. On the day of publication, MP Valerie Vaz told parliament: “I suggest the leader of the house and all members of the government read the book by the Secret Barrister.”
The Criminal Bar Association and Young Legal Aid Lawyers swiftly launched their crowdfunding campaign with an initial target of £10,000. This target was quickly achieved and 650 copies of the book will be given to the members of the Commons. They will also receive a copy of the report Young Legal Aid Lawyers: Social Mobility in a Time of Austerity. The crowdfunding page says: “Nobody can then say they weren’t warned about the crisis in the criminal justice system.”
The Secret Barrister, who is “thrilled and somewhat overwhelmed” by the success of the book so far, has said that royalties from the sale of the books from the crowdfunding campaign will go to the Bar Pro Bono Unit. Pan MacMillan, the book’s publisher has pledged to match the donation and will split the funds between Law Works and Legal Action Group.
A new crowdfunding target has now been set to £25,000 which the Criminal Bar Association and Young Legal Aid Lawyers say will be used “to create a fighting fund for criminal justice to enable us to continue to protect our criminal justice system and build a campaign to educate the public on the crisis”.
