Sir Ivan Lawrence QC’s new autobiography, My Life of Crime, could spark a revival in lawyers’ memoirs, which have gone out of fashion of late, writes James Morton.

In the 1960s and 1970s Lawrence, who in the mores of the times was not given a tenancy in the fashionable chambers in which he served his pupilage because there was already one Jewish member, appeared in more or less every major case involving the leaders of the London underworld. Characters to cross his path included the Kray twins, the fearsome Alf Gerard, the shadowy Joey Pyle, and many others. Lawrence also entered parliament, working his way up through the Conservative Party. Unusually, he was both a highly successful barrister and politician, for these do not necessarily go hand in hand. He came within an ace of being appointed solicitor-general, only to be given a consolatory knighthood.

The book is peppered with anecdotes of lawyers and judges of the time – from Sir Gerald Dodson, known as ‘The Wrecker’ because of the damage he did to the defence, and the irascible Melford Stevenson, to the benign John Maude, confiding in the jury when there was evidence that a robbery had taken place at 7pm: ‘Sherry time, you know’. Throughout the book, there are comments on the unfairness of the law, including the perceived intellectual dishonesty of the Court of Appeal, and the bias of judges (of former days, of course), as well as very useful suggestions for the young advocate. The book is published by Book Guild Publishing.