''King's Counsel'' (formerly Queen's Counsel until September 2022) is a British cartoon strip created by Alexander Williams and Graham Francis Defries, which has been published in the law pages of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' since 1993. It is a satire on law and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

s. The strip is published under the pseudonym "Steuart and Francis", these being the middle names of the two authors.

Law Humour

The cartoons, described as "the scourge, or possibly succour, of lawyers everywhere", make fun of law and lawyers, with a particular focus on legal pomposity and over-billing. The characters are mostly legal archetypes, the

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

s inhabiting the mythical Chambers of 4 Lawn Buildings, while the

solicitors A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

ply their trade at the firm of Fillibuster and Loophole. The authors of the strip are both

s themselves, though Williams left the Bar to pursue a career in film

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

Origins

According to Williams, ''Queen's Counsel'' "began life in the early 1990s as a satire on politicians, and was rejected by ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...

''...for being too much like

Alan B'Stard The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine. New Statesman or New Statesmen may also refer to: * ''The New Statesman'' (1984 TV series), a British television sitcom starring Windsor Davies * ''The New Statesman'' (1987 TV ser ...

". Later, Williams discovered he could "take the same characters, stick wigs on them and turn them into barristers".Interview with Williams at The Times, 26 October 2017, p57

Characters

Sir Geoffrey Bentwood KC is the main protagonist of the comic strip. He is a leading

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

, Head of Chambers, part-time

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

and all-around master of the legal universe. Extremely pompous, Sir Geoffrey is obsessed with law in general, and with being elevated to the High Court in particular. Even his family call him "Your Honour".Queen's Counsel Official Site
Retrieved October 2012 Edward Longwind is a

and junior tenant at 4 Lawn Buildings. He aspires one day to be as pompous as Sir Geoffrey. Helena is a very junior tenant. She is young, beautiful and—for the moment anyway—idealistic. She was the first female pupil in Chambers and has been trying to open up the stuffy windows of 4 Lawn Buildings ever since. Richard Loophole is a

solicitor-advocate Solicitor advocate is a hybrid status which allows a solicitor in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong to represent clients in higher courts in proceedings that were traditionally reserved for barristers. The status does not exist in most other comm ...

and senior

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

in the

firm A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

of Fillibuster and Loophole. He is overpaid and—for the most part—underworked, unlike his luckless assistants, who regularly have to work over the weekend as Richard saunters off to play golf with his clients. Quentin Crawley is a pupil

in 4 Lawn Buildings and all-around

dogsbody A dogsbody, dog's body, or less commonly dog robber is someone who does menial or drudge work.''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd edition, 2010''s.v.''/ref> Originally, in the British Royal Navy, a dogsbody was a semi-sarcastic colloquialism for a ...

. His grasp of law is slender at best and his appearances in court are inevitably fumbled. He lives in permanent terror of being found out and booted out of Chambers. Mr Sprocket is a client and endlessly unlucky litigant. He is invariably given terrible (and expensive) advice, usually resulting in a failed case and likely bankruptcy. Rachel is Richard's assistant

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

. Like Helena she still retains some idealism and can dimly remember why she went into law in the first place.

Books

''King's Counsel'' cartoons have been collected and published in a number of volumes. * ''Queen's Counsel – A Libellous Look at the Law'' (Robson Books 1995) * ''Queen's Counsel – Judgment Day'' (Robson Books 1996) * ''Queen's Counsel – Laying Down the Law'' (Times Books 1997)
''The Times – Best of Queen's Counsel''
HarperCollins (1999)
''Lawyers Uncovered – Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Law But Didn't Want to Pay £500 an Hour to Find Out''
JR Books (1997)
''101 Ways to Leave the Law''
JR Books, London (2009)
''The Queen's Counsel Official Lawyer's Handbook''
The Robson Press, London (2011)

References

* The ''Procartoonist'' Newsletter, April 2013 * ''The Times'', 26 October 2017, p57

Notes

{{reflist, 2

External links

Law cartoons - Queen's Counsel Official Website
Retrieved September 2012
Queen's Counsel comic strip at The Times Online
Retrieved 10 November 2017
Queen's Counsel - A Libellous Look at The law - at Amazon.com
Retrieved September 2012
Queen's Counsel - Judgment Day - at Amazon.com
Retrieved September 2012
Queen's Counsel - Laying Down The Law - at Amazon.com
Retrieved September 2012
Alexander Williams' Official Website
Retrieved September 2012

Retrieved December 2012 British comic strips British comics characters Comics characters introduced in 1993 Satirical comics British satire 1993 comics debuts Fiction about law Comics set in the United Kingdom