Brown tells a powerful story without falling into the trap of verbosity
OUT of curiosity, many years ago, I sat in a session at the Supreme Court in Johannesburg for the first time. I found the experience fascinating and it instilled in me a lifelong admiration for the eloquence of the legal fraternity.
Since then, I have read quite a few books written by members of the legal profession. Some of these, while being satisfying reads, have been quite challenging – they tended to lean towards being quite voluminous.
A new book, A Lawyer’s Odyssey by Henry Brown, thankfully manages to tell a powerful story without succumbing to being overly wordy.
Born in Muizenberg, Brown qualified as an attorney in 1962 and practised in Cape Town until 1971, when he emigrated to the UK with his family, and he qualified there as an English solicitor. From early in his career, he became involved with civil rights issues, representing opponents and victims of apartheid, including luminaries such as Nelson Mandela, Albie Sachs and Winnie Mandela. He is a pioneer in mediation and dispute resolution and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Academy of Mediators.
In this fine book, his extraordinary career odyssey is told with restraint and modesty and his high standards of ethics, justice and overriding humanity shine brightly throughout.
“I don’t feel there’s an inconsistency between helping people find solutions to difficult concepts of all kinds and having a deeply held sense of fairness, justice and humanity. My odyssey has taken me through some challenging and troubling times and some wonderfully creative ones. There has been brutality and there has been Ubuntu.”
A Lawyer’s Odyssey is a rewarding and illuminating, sober reading journey through extraordinary times and the career of an extraordinary man who more than made his mark – he made a difference.