The trouble with trying to be objective about Geoffrey Robertson is that I can’t do it. The man’s an absolute legend and hero. This autobiography covers his entire life to date, from growing up in suburban Sydney – to the move to England via his Rhodes Scholarship – through to his burgeoning legal career and subsequent founding of the renowned human rights law chambers on Doughty Street. Whilst fairly dry in its humour, the book shows a selection of situations where the barrister must reconcile their client’s situation with respect to the law – although also highlights that a judge’s circumstantial understanding or predilections may influence a case as much as its legal technicalities. And I’m just starstruck at anyone who can casually use words like “propinquity” in a sentence. This took me no time to read, cos I couldn’t put it down.
