T.I. CLOUGH & CO,
Solicitors, Bradford.
My first job.

When I left school in the Summer of 1976 I was nearly 19 years old.
My first job was as a trainee 'legal executive' with a firm of lawyers in
my hometown.

I worked in the criminal litigation department specialising in cases
being defended in 'Crown Court' - that is the 'superior' criminal court in
England & Wales (Scotland has a different legal system). And yes,
this is the court where the judge and barristers wear wigs and gowns!

I would read all the prosecution statements and write "a brief" giving a
synopsis of the case as I saw it. This would go to the barrister who
would defend our firm's client in court. I would also interview the
defendants and their witnesses. Sometimes I would instruct a private
detective to make enquiries on our behalf and sometimes I would do
the sleuthing myself - which I can assure you is no where near as
glamorous as it sounds! We covered cases right across the north of
England and the whole spectrum of serious crime.

When my cases came to court I would sit behind our barrister in the
well of the court and make notes on the evidence on their behalf. My
job was to ensure our side of the case flowed smoothly and that all
our witnesses were still on side; it is so embarrassing when your
own witness turns "hostile" once they get on the witness stand and
that's when the statement I took from them becomes critical in under-
mining their U-turn!

I spent four years doing this sort of work and I am grateful for the
insight it helped to give me into the ways of the world. To find oneself
mixing with the bad, the mad and the sad at the margins of our society
was a revelation.

I was once on a case out of town defending a guy on burglary charges
who, although he was out on bail, fully expected to be sent to prison
when his case concluded that afternoon. It was not unusual for our
clients to get themselves plastered in the local pub at lunchtime in these
circumstances. As it happened in this instance the judge was minded
to suspend his sentence. So there we were after the hearing with our
client breathing beery fumes over me explaining that he had no money
left in order to get home having spent every penny on booze. I gave him
some out of my own pocket. "I swear on my [sainted] mother's grave
I'll pay you back" he said. I told him not to worry about it. Experience
had taught me that sincerity is in inverse proportion to such declamations.
Of course I heard nothing more about it, until that is I bumped into
him a year or so later in our office reception. He was a habitual
burglar so that isn't altogether surprising. "I remember you", he said,
"I swear on my [sainted] mother's grave I'll pay you back [the money]".
Again I told him to forget it, "just write it off" I said. No, no he would
not hear of doing such a thing "I will pay you back". He never did.
I knew he never would. But isn't it curious? He could have accepted
my offer to 'write it off' - he didn't even have to say a thank you - all
he had to do was agree. But it is as if he was offered it as a free gift and
yet chose to steal it instead by making a promise he had no intention
of keeping. He could have walked away scot free but chose not to.
There is a parable in there somewhere.

Sometimes I'd be asked by other Christians how I felt defending
people who were obviously guilty. I would say that everyone is
entitled to have their day in court and put their side of the story.
Besides everyone is innocent until proven guilty, right? The
depressing thing was seeing the same old faces time after time,
recidivists doing "a life sentence on the installment plan!"

I quit T.I. Cloughs in 1980 and worked briefly as an oddjob man for
Harvestime Publishing before I started my nurse training. I had decided
that the law was not for me and I wanted to do something more
constructive with my working life - I know it sounds corny - but that's
why I moved into nursing as a career.

It is tempting to think crime is something that is always done by "the
criminal classes", the unsavoury element in society, the misfits and
antisocial types; not "decent" middle class people like ourselves.
I heard that T.I. Cloughs were closed down a couple of years ago after
the 'Serious Fraud Office' prosecuted some of the lawyers there. One of
them is still on the run and there is a warrant outstanding for his arrest.

How's that for irony?