Enjoy a Talk and have Lunch with leading criminal barrister and author Harry Potter.
We can choose from various venues to book you in including Inner Temple and the Law Society, and have Harry talk and discuss his time within the criminal justice system.
We also use the Magpie and Stump Opposite the Old Bailey Criminal Court.
Please call 07866690618 or email: info@oldbaileyinsight.co.uk for further information.
Below are some further details about our guest speaker:
Harry Potter is a criminal defence barrister , a former fellow of Selwyn College Cambridge, says his famous name has been a distinct advantage. He has represented clients in all areas of crime, including court martials. He is a published author of several books on legal and Scottish history and his latest book on the history of prisons will shortly be published. He has worked for the BBC presenting a TV series on our legal system and a documentary on capital punishment. He is also a qualified Church of England priest and for eight years was a prison chaplain attending many lifer review hearings. He believes that too many people are jailed and for too long. He regularly lectures on the death penalty, criminal justice and prisons.
Harry Potter is an accomplished author as well as having his own series on the BBC, below are two of his books and a link to the series:
Law, Liberty and the Constitution: A Brief History of the Common Law
“Potter lacerates the jargon and marches through a long timeline to produce a slim, superbly written account of the common law.” (LAW SOCIETY GAZETTE)
“Full of triumphs, tragedies, comedies, accidents and unintended consequences [with] an immense cast of characters. … [A] lively and opinionated book.” (TIMES)
click the link for further info.
HANGING IN JUDGMENT. Religion and the Death Penalty in England from the Bloody Code to Abolition.
Important, Erudite and Interesting
“This is undoubtedly the best overall view of the history of capital punishment and its slow decline between the Bloody Code and the 1960s.”
click the link for further info.
BBC Series:
Below is the link to Harry’s 12 part documentary series for the BBC “The Strange Case of the Law”. Suitable for teaching 14-16s. A series of films in which barrister Harry Potter looks at the history of English justice, from the early concept of compensation, through the development of the jury to the founding of the police.
Click Here to watch the series: The Strange Case of the Law
History of the Magpie & Stump pub where the lunch will be held:
In the 1700s the Magpie & Stump was one of the most renowned ‘mughouses’ in London. Back in those days guests would visit for a pint of Two’penny ale (served in their own mug) & a prime view of the hanging outside Newgate Prison. We would even send out a last pint to the condemned man before his execution.
In the 1950s the Magpie & Stump affectionately became known as ‘Courtroom No 10’
– a gathering place for detectives and reporters to discuss the trial of the day at the Old Bailey
over a traditional lunch of chop ‘n’ chips.