May 2, 2025
In addition to his fortnightly Crime Brief column, which will resume publication midway through this month, David Walbank KC has been commissioned to write a series of six articles on ‘Lives of the Great Advocates’. These brief biographical essays will be published in the course of 2025 in the magazine’s Back Page Law Stories.
David will be examining the careers of some of the most famous barristers in English legal history, their sensational trials and their extraordinary lives out of court and outside the law. His six great advocates are Thomas Erskine (1750-1823), Edward Carson (1854-1935), Edward Marshall Hall (1858-1927), Rufus Isaacs (1860-1935), Norman Birkett (1883-1962) and George Carman (1929-2001).
The first of his essays, on the great eighteenth century barrister, Thomas Esrkine, appears in the double edition of the New Law Journal dated 18th & 25th April 2025. David writes that “He combined moral courage with blazing powers of oratory – described by one contemporary as ‘breathing celestial fire”.
You can read the full article here: [New Law Journal ‘Lives of the Great Advocates – Thomas Erskine’]
David Walbank KC has spent his working life prosecuting and defending those charged with white-collar crime. He is also the founder and presenter of www.crimecast.law, which hosts more than 250 video case reviews of recent judgments.
Barristers
David Walbank KC
Call: 1987 | Silk: 2018