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'GRIPPING' (The Times)
'FASCINATING, NO-HOLDS-BARRED' (The Secret Barrister)
How can you speak up for someone accused of a savage murder? Or sway a jury? Or get a judge to drop a case?
William Clegg QC is a leading criminal lawyer in London. In this vivid memoir, he revisits his most notorious and intriguing trials, from the acquittal of Colin Stagg to the murder of Jill Dando, to the man given life because of an earprint and the first Nazi war crimes prosecution in the UK.
All the while he lays bare the secrets of his profession, from the rivalry among barristers to the nervous moments before a verdict comes back - and how our right to a fair trial is now at risk.
Under the Wig is for anyone who wants to know the reality of a murder trial. Under the Wig is for anyone who wants to know the reality of a murder trial. It's an intelligent crime read for fans of The Secret Barrister's Stories of the Law and How It's Broken and Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd.
Well-known cases featured:
William Clegg QC, is one of the most celebrated advocates at the English bar. A barrister for 47 years, he has been the go-to lawyer for complex murder and fraud cases for decades. He is head of chambers at 2 Bedford Row, one of the four leading criminal sets in London.
'This is a gripping memoir from one of our country's greatest jury advocates, offering a fascinating, no-holds-barred tour behind the scenes of some of the most famous criminal cases of modern times.'
- The Secret Barrister
'Countless veteran lawyers have produced page-tuners based in the fictional world of law, but in Under the Wig William Clegg, QC, has distilled his extraordinary life in the criminal courtroom into a yarn equally as gripping.'
- The Times
'One of England's best barristers provides a fascinating sometimes hilarious combination of a personal odyssey and insider accounts of the most important and famous court cases of recent times.
'From the infamous case of Colin Stagg and the Wimbledon Murders to war crimes in Belarus and Bosnia and the Murdoch phone hacking trials we share and applaud the author's deep commitment to justice and his infectious enthusiasm for one of the world's greatest professions. An absolute must read for anyone who aspires to join it (and anyone who already has.)'
- Bob Marshall-Andrews QC
'Bill Clegg's memoir draws on some of the most high-profile criminal prosecutions of recent years to illuminate the career of a defence lawyer at the peak of his success.
'Deftly weaving personal reminiscences into the view from counsel's bench, he solves one high-profile murder case long before the police and ensures that justice is finally done in another after the tactics adopted by a better-known QC have led to a miscarriage of justice.'
'Unlike many works of this genre, Clegg's case-book eschews endless exchanges with long-forgotten judges, lawyers and villains. Like the successful jury advocate that he is, Clegg reduces his story to its essence. He speaks plainly, sparing us the the bombast and the braggadocio. And those who still aspire to join the criminal bar will learn more from Clegg than Clegg ever did from Perry Mason.'
- Joshua Rozenberg QC, Presenter BBC Law in Action
'My independent verdict is that I have never read a more accurate portrayal of our profession.'
- Nigel Pascoe QC, Counsel magazine
How can you defend a man like that? How can I defend someone who I know is guilty? It's the question I am asked the most often. It is really a velvet glove on some finger-pointing: how can I, a decent man, speak up for a rapist or murderer? How can I put my professional skills and intellect at the disposal of someone who has committed such a terrible crime?
All advocates are asked this question, perhaps me more than most because of the nature of my career. I have defended more than 100 people accused of murder, probably more than any other lawyer practising in England. The first thing to say is that in English law to defend somebody who I know in the strict sense of the word is guilty is not allowed. If the client tells me they are guilty, I must not tell a court they are innocent.
For crimes such as fraud or drugs, a client may freely acknowledge what they have done and plead guilty, perhaps after I have pointed out the strength of the case against them and told them of the reduced sentence that greets a guilty plea. This happens often; I don t varnish the facts.
Murder, though, is different. Murder is...
Buy the book and carry on reading
INTRODUCTION. An experienced murder case lawyer answers the question asked of criminal barristers in England: how can they represent 'murderers' and 'rapists'. Explains the different type of murder charge (homicide) such as acting in self-defence, diminished responsibility and mental incapacity
THE WIMBLEDON COMMON MURDER. Clegg takes a phone call from a solicitor: will he represent a man accused of killing Rachel Nickell on heathland in London in July 1992? Colin Stagg, a local man, looks similar to a witness description. Convinced of his guilt, detectives set up a honeytrap operation
PERRY MASON AND THE ART OF ADVOCACY. Growing up in a working-class home in Essex in 1960s England, Clegg loves the drama and showdowns of the American legal TV show Perry Mason and resolves to become a criminal barrister. He studies law at Bristol University and joins Gray's Inn, an inn of court
THE MURDER OF SAMANTHA BISSET. Samantha Bisset and her daughter Jazmine have been savagely stabbed at their one-bedroom flat in Plumstead, south London. When Clegg reads the case papers for the defence of Robert Napper, he has a good idea who killed them. Criminal profiler Paul Britton does not
RONNIE TROTT. After passing the Bar Finals, Clegg takes the final step for any law student intent on becoming a practising barrister: a pupillage. Clegg works for an idiosyncratic, chain-smoking, vegetarian lawyer. He learns to cover up to 10 cases a day in the magistrates courts around London
THE CHILLENDEN MURDERS. Sometimes a barrister feels he will win a case. When he acts for Michael Stone, Clegg feels the dice are loaded against him. Stone, a heroin addict, is arrested in 1997 and charged with the murders of Lin and Megan Russell and the attempted murder of Josie Russell in Kent
LEARNING HOW TO FIGHT A CASE. During the 1970s and early 1980s Clegg regularly defends clients accused of robbery, burglary and assault. Occasionally he acts as a junior barrister in more serious cases. As his workload intensifies, he learns the secrets to running a successful defence in law courts
HELEN HODGSON. In the 1970s and 1980s defendants often retract 'confessions' after they have been charged. In 1985, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) tightens police rules. Clegg mounts an appeal for Cherie McGovern, convicted of murdering a woman in a grisly case involving communal living
MUTINY AT 3 HARE COURT. Inside barristers chambers in London a revolt brews against a hard-drinking head clerk. The leading chambers in the 1970s is 5 King's Bench Walk, 6 Kings Bench Walk, and Queen Elizabeth Buildings. A new set is established, headed by a personal injury silk, Michael Lewis QC
WAKING THE DEAD IN BELARUS. Clegg takes on the UK's first case under 1991 War Crimes Act and is introduced to a gentle 84-year-old from Surrey: Szymon Serafinowicz, who is accused of murdering Jews during World War II. Simon Wiesenthal Centre says he was 'Commander' of Belarussian police in Mir
HOW TO BECOME A QC. Becoming a Queen's Counsel is the pinnacle of achievement for a British barrister. A Queen's Counsel, or QC, is one of 'Her Majesty's Counsel learned in the law'. It's an honorific rank (King's Counsel, when there is a king on the English throne). The process is mysterious
ANDRUSHA THE BASTARD. It is -30 degrees and Clegg's lips are so cold he can barely speak. He is in Belarus in the former Soviet Union, defending another former member of the wartime police accused of war crimes. Unlike his compatriot Szymon Serafinowicz, Anthony Sawoniuk is a harder man to defend
DEFENDING FRAUDSTERS. In his first serious fraud case, Clegg defends Wallace Duncan Smith, a banker in the City of London, who is accused of fraudulent trades - paying more than £50m for fictitious Canadian bonds while MD of Wallace Smith Trust Corporation. The Serious Fraud Office is on the other side
CONVICTED BY EARPRINT.
As London's leading murder case lawyer, William Clegg represented clients at some of the best-known criminal trials in English legal history.
In all during 47 years as a leading advocate, he fought more than 100 murder cases, more than any other barrister currently practising in Britain.
His cases ranged from serial killers to alleged Nazi war criminals to ordinary members of the public innocently caught up in police investigations. They include:
- the Wimbledon Common Murder of Rachel Nickell
- the Chillenden Murders (Dr Lin and Megan Russell)
- the Earprint Murder
- the Murder of Jill Dando
- Private Lee Clegg (Northern Ireland)
- the Murder of Joanna Yeates
- Nazi War Crimes in Britain
- Rebekah Brooks's Phone Hacking Trial
- and International War Crimes Tribunal (Yugoslavia)When Clegg represented paratrooper Lee Clegg in Belfast, his junior in the long-running appeal case was Keir Starmer, future leader of the Labour Party.
A Queen's Counsel (now King's Counsel), Clegg capped his long-running career at the Bar as head of chambers at 2 Bedford Row in London. He is now retired and lives in Sussex.
