A Drink at the Bar: A Memoir of Crime, Justice and Overcoming Personal Demons

by Graham Boal

Overview

A Drink at the Bar: A memoir of crime, justice and overcoming personal demons is the witty, opinionated and revealing memoirs of Judge Graham Boal QC, a criminal barrister for thirty years before serving as a judge for nine years until his retirement as a Permanent Judge at London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in 2005. His memories of key cases in his career are fascinating but his day-to-day experiences, and the underlying legal issues and happenstance, are every bit as revealing and interesting. As his brilliant career progressed he found himself increasingly dependent on the demon alcohol. He went into treatment for alcoholism and depression in 1993, and has been a recovering alcoholic ever since, including his years as a judge at the Old Bailey, the court at which most of the most serious criminal cases in the country are tried. This intriguing memoir reveals the many inside stories of classic criminal cases and the author is unstinting in his analysis of his professional achievements and personal struggles. This will be an essential read for all those interested in legal and political issues and the toll that the pressures of high office can put on one’s life

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846893452
Publisher:	Quiller Publishing
Publication date:	08/20/2021
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Graham Boal QC was a criminal barrister for thirty years before serving as a judge for nine years until his retirement as a Permanent Judge at London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in 2005. The author is now a trustee and board member of WDP, a leading addiction charity.

What People are Saying About This

Sir Charles Walker KBE MP

‘Great success can often find itself the marching companion of personal torment. Graham’s insightful and amusing memoirs are tempered with the reality that mastering the court room proved easier than mastering his addiction. Life is a bumpy journey, and this fantastically told story is one full of colour and optimism.’

Charlie Mortimer

‘A Drink at the Bar could equally be called The Tale of Two QCs. On the one hand it is the fascinating memoir of a hugely gifted QC who rose to the very pinnacle of his profession whilst on the other hand it is the candid story of a QC at the top of his game struggling to overcome inner turmoil from the twin afflictions of alcoholism and clinical depression. Author Graham Boal’s excellent descriptions of how the entire criminal justice system works and his personal involvement in many of the high-profile cases of the time are an instructive and riveting read whilst his breathtakingly honest, often funny, self-deprecating and disarmingly humble accounts of how he confronted his demons are at times deeply moving.’

Alastair Campbell

As Graham Boal himself acknowledges, lawyers’ and judges’ memoirs have a habit of being either dull or self-serving or both, and pompous to boot. This is none of those things. It is an important addition to the debate around alcohol and depression. The more that we normalise these issues the better. Graham’s account captures not merely the horrors of depression and a descent into alcoholism but also shows the additional damage to people’s lives done by the stigma and taboo that for too long have surrounded them. That stigma is weakening and this book will weaken it further.’

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore

‘This is a remarkable story of two lives – the successful professional barrister and the private life consumed by alcohol dependence and the resulting disintegration of his personal life. It is written in an engaging and open way that I hope will encourage others to seek help early and also serve to break down the stigma of this pernicious disease.’

Patricia Hewitt

‘A brilliant combination of the professional and the personal. Intelligent and often wickedly funny about the law. Insightful and moving about the personal struggle behind the glittering facade. Wit and wisdom in equal measure.’

Editorial Reviews

Witty and engaging. It offers a fascinating ringside seat at some of the most high-profile trials in modern English legal history, together with a brutally honest account of the writer’s descent into alcoholism and depression — and his rise out of it.

From the Publisher

As you would expect from a former Old Bailey judge, Graham Boal QC is searingly honest about the challenges he has faced — and overcome. Well aware that, as he puts it, “there are few more boring experiences than ploughing through the reminiscences of retired barristers and judges”, Boal takes us through his early life and career at a reasonably brisk pace. Writing about one’s human frailties is entirely commendable and Boal, 77, dedicates his book to the Westminster Drug Project, where he serves as a trustee and board member. While later chapters of Boal’s book make for painful reading, this is a story with a happy ending. Boal recovered. Despite everything, then, [he] considers himself to be a very lucky man indeed.

A Lawyer Writes - Joshua Rozenburg

Offering readers a candid portrayal of his alcoholism and depression, which were inevitably intertwined, this book’s appeal extends beyond the narrow readership of practising lawyers and fellow judges. His angst may regularly punctuate the narrative, washed down with recollections of tumblers full of whisky, but they do not dominate Boal’s story. Instead, they are neatly interwoven with his 30-year stretch as a criminal barrister, during which time he became First Senior Treasury Counsel.

Reports Legal - Dominic Carman