Everyone seems to have been glued to their televisions recently watching the excellent Apple Tree Yard, which ends in a courtroom drama. Many people are interested in the leading characters of Dr Yvonne Carmichael, played by Emily Watson, and Mark Costley, played by Ben Chaplin.
My hero is Jaspreet the solicitor, played by the equally excellent Adeel Akhtar. He attends the police station, applies successfully for bail in a murder case without counsel, visits the client at home, attends court – apparently daily – and gets a hug at end of the case. In most courtroom dramas the solicitors are invisible and barristers do all the work. This solicitor’s role in the drama is more prominent than the QC, whose function is mainly to say ‘no questions, my lord’.
Perhaps the ‘junior branch’ of the profession will now have a starring role!
David Pickup, partner, Pickup & Scott, Aylesbury
