By Daniel R White & Alex Williams
Publisher: The Robson Press
ISBN: 978-1849-541701
Cartoonists’ Club member Alex Williams has had a regular strip, The Queen’s Counsel, running in The Times since 1993. He’s teamed up with Daniel R White to add another dimension of humour to an already deeply satirical publication that has seen previous bestselling success on the other side of the Atlantic.
If you didn’t know this you’d never spot the join as the two complement one another superbly, although because of the books dimensions Alex’s strips do feel a little squashed, but that really is a minor quibble. And you don’t need to know a thing about the law to appreciate the humour here. In fact, this is your education.
From guidance on becoming qualified as a lawyer to surviving in a law firm once you make it, on to drafting legal documents, creative billing and even sage advice on lawyers in love, this is an interesting insight into the profession.
It’s funny because you know it’s so close to the truth, and Daniel R White mentions several times that the combination of honesty, revelation and satire has not gone down well with all his former legal friends. Whether that’s true or not, you can’t help feeling a little pleased that it might be.
Near the beginning of the book is a list of hard facts about lawyers. Number 11 reads: “Most male lawyers look more like John Mortimer than Tom Cruise”. 12 follows with: “So do most female lawyers”.
The chapters are peppered with Alex’s Queen’s Counsel strips, offering his own take on the particular chapter’s theme. I particularly like one titled “New Causes of Action For 2011”, with children suing parents over second-hand smoke, a fat bloke suing the NHS over his obesity, a drunkard suing his landlord and then a woman suing Alan Sugar for unfair dismissal after being told,“You’re fired”.
And if you liked that: Visit www.qccartoon.com where you can find some more of Alex’s cartoon collections
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