Some weeks ago, Obiter speculated about what Line of Duty writer Jed Mercurio would have in store for lawyers in the latest series of the BBC1 hit.

Previous attempts to portray the legal profession had gone down badly – not least when a duty solicitor managed to fall asleep while his vulnerable client was stitched up for a murder he didn’t commit.

This time around, the lawyers have been largely kept on the periphery – but Sunday’s finale saw writer Jed Mercurio return to form.

 

(Warning: Spoilers coming...)

 

First there was Hastings’ solicitor, sitting in silence as his client was accused of orchestrating a high-level corruption plot. Crucially he had missed a major mistake in the investigation which would have killed the prosecution case. It remains to be seen whether Hastings brings a professional negligence case.

It was Gill Biggeloe, a former defence solicitor and now counsel for the police, who stepped in to save Hastings. But Biggeloe had her own agenda, later being revealed as a member of the organised crime syndicate and having manipulated poor John Corbett to take on a fatal undercover mission. She also managed to place a strand of Hastings’ hair (obtained during a late-night liaison) on Corbett’s corpse in a bid to help frame him. Obiter is sure that’s probably frowned upon in the SRA code of conduct.

Sadly for legal hacks, Biggeloe was given a new identity in return for her help in busting the gang, which presumably precludes her appearing at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal anytime soon. Shame, it would have been some hearing.

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