Autobiography
Steven D Coles worked as a solicitor in the West Country for thirty-nine years where he undertook civil and criminal litigation in crown, magistrates and county courts throughout the region.
Steven D Coles worked as a solicitor in the West Country for thirty-nine years where he undertook civil and criminal litigation in crown, magistrates and county courts throughout the region.
Now You’re In Trouble, Here Comes My Solicitor is an appreciation of the wonderful and varied eccentricities of human behaviour that the author experienced. In this memoir, the author tells of the times when he encountered a Landlord who tried to evict his sitting tenants by impersonating a werewolf in his tenant’s garden in the dead of night; a compulsive rustler of piglets stealing from farmers within his own community; an amiable young petty thief committed, Robin Hood like, to the redistribution of his ill-gotten gains amongst those he considered most deserving. All of these characters and others are depicted in the book.
Similar eccentricities were also to be found on the judicial and magisterial benches of the 1980’s when every market town seemed to have its own court and the dispensers of justice often appeared more suited to the age of Dickens than to the late twentieth century.
Now You’re In Trouble, Here Comes My Solicitor is written with a light and humorous touch whilst at the same time ensuring legal accuracy and authenticity.
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
Funny but also a bit disturbing as it is based on lived experience and it is shocking what people will do! The author tells his tales well with wit and good humour. Original review: https://www.netgalley.co.uk/book/243629/review/700299
This is a fun midpaced read which I thoroughly enjoyed! The format was great as I was able to dip in and out of this book one story at a time. Some of the parts of this book are so unbelievable but the fact they truly happened makes the book even more enjoyable as it shows the strangest occurrences of humanity in the countryside. There were many parts of this book where I audible laughed out loud and will go back to these stories again and again for a good giggle! Original review: https://www.netgalley.co.uk/book/243629/review/370810
A West Country solicitor of 39 years, Steven D. Coles, writes an entertaining and amusing small town account of his professional life, with echoes in style of John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey, of his experiences and the eccentric characters he encountered. It begins with Frank Gilbert determined to do all that he can to protect his clients, the elderly Cora and Letitia who have lived in their rented home for over two decades. They are being illegally harrassed and intimidated by their new villainous landlord who wants to evict them, and he is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to achieve this, such as impersonating a howling werewolf outside in their garden at night. Frank is passed a case at short notice by Alan, a senior law firm colleague, the piglet rustler of Penwith, a repeat offender, an idealistic and amiable Robin Hood, passing on his ill gotten gains to the more deserving poor. In the case of the stolen charity box from a hotel, Frank represents a young genial and good humoured man, Lee Facey, from a notorious criminal family, managing to get him bail with stringent bail conditions. There is a web of intrigue in the matter of a claim of a forged signature, by the wife of Glen Terrell, on legal documents and the implications for their financial divorce settlement and the sale of a hotel. We have all heard about the nightmare that can result with the neighbours from hell, Mr and Mrs Lemon are a prime example, having their life ruined and disrupted by the aggressive and slippery builder next door. Finally, there is the issue of a dangerous dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback with puppies, owned by Drusilla, that attacks the dog loving postie. This is a short, fun and amusing memoir of what it is like to practice law in the West Country, there are some wonderfully off the wall characters within it, a book that will have you smiling whilst you are reading it. Original review: https://www.netgalley.co.uk/book/243629/review/287049