He never prosecutes. Neither do I
The Rumpole of the Bailey books arrived on television around the time I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. Horace Rumpole tortured witnesses, teased judges, charmed juries and rang rings around colleagues before retiring to Pomeroy’s wine bar for a glass of cheap claret. He made the job look a lot of fun!
Having worked at it for 35 years, I now appreciate the stories even more. The author, John Mortimer, followed his father to the English Bar and, as a result, he gets all the technical stuff spot on. Court dramas tend to drive lawyers up the wall because they rarely get the nuts and bolts right; he always did and the 20% that was fiction just made the stories more entertaining
I’m not sure if much of Rumpole’s style rubbed off on me. People perhaps expect a court lawyer to showboat like Rumpole but I don’t do much, if any, of that; the most important thing is to keep a connection with the jurors so they give you a chance when you address them at the end of the case.
Perhaps one of Rumpole’s principles rubbed off on me, however. At the Scottish Bar there has historically been an expectation that you spend around three years working for the government, prosecuting cases in the High Court.
I was approached several times but always refused.
The government can pay for experienced court lawyers and surely the man in the street is entitled to a few too. As Horace proudly stated “Rumpole never prosecutes”, and neither do I.