Lord Justice: The Life and Times of Lord Birkett of Ulverston

Out of Print

Lord Justice is the full-length biography and casebook of Norman Birkett, one of the most famous British trial lawyers and judges of our century. It was said of him by one of his colleagues:-

If it had ever been my lot to decide to cut up a lady in small pieces and put her in an unwanted suitcase, I should without hesitation have placed my future in Norman Birkett's hands. He would have satisfied the jury

• (a) that I was not there;
• (b) that I had not cut up the lady;
• and ( c) that if I had, she thoroughly deserved it anyway.

Birkett's career did include some of the sensational trials of his day. It was his brilliant defense of Tony Mancini - in whose room was discovered a trunk containing the decomposed corpse of a prostitute - that won him great popular acclaim, and in this facinating book Mr. Hyde re-creates such famous cases as Dr. Buck, Ruxton's bizarre murder of his wife and their children's nurse and the Alfred Arthur Rouse "blazing-car" murder case.

Norman Birkett's career was not limited to the criminal courts. His reputation made him one of the most fashionable lawyers of his day and his income exceeded $250,000 a year. His counsel was sought by Lady Mountbatten; he secured Wallis Simpson's divorce; he defended Lord Gladstone. And in the famous trial of The Well of Loneliness, it was Norman Birkett who defended Radclyffe Hall. His courtroom skill made him a popular lecturer, and he traveled and spoke both in England and in the United States, where he was most enthusiastically received.

In 1941 Birkett entered the last phase of his life. He was knighted and raised to the Bench. He chose to sacrifice his lucrative practice to accept the honor and serve as a judge. In 1946 he was appointed one of the two British judges at Nuremberg.

Lord Justice H. Montgomery Hyde's lively biography, tells the story of the extraordinary success and life of Norman Birkett. Birkett's dignity and presence, his cunning and eloquence are very much alive in this book. But Mr. Hyde also, with startling candor, reveals the man beneath the calm, poised facade, As a judge, especially while serving at Nuremberg, he recorded in his diary his disappointments, and his concern and worry over decisions; even his driving desire for recognition.

Mr. Hyde, a master of under-statement, has the delicacy and understanding to capture here the frailty and insecurities as well as the genius of Norman Birkett.