Queens Counsel (comic strip)

Queens Counsel is a British cartoon strip created by Alexander Williams and Graham Francis Defries.It first appeared in law pages of "The Times" in 1993, where it has been featured ever since. It is a satire on law and lawyers.

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

The Jokes

The jokes in the strip tend to revolve around familiar legal themes of pomposity and over-billing. The authors are both lawyers by training, though Williams left the Bar to pursue a career in film animation. The characters are mostly legal archetypes, the barristers inhabiting the mythical Chambers of 4 Lawn Buildings, while the solicitors ply their trade at the firm of Fillibuster and Loophole.

List of characters

Sir Geoffrey Bentwood QC is the main protagonist of the comic strip. He is a leading silk, Head of Chambers, part time Recorder 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 Lordship".

Edward Longwind is a barrister 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 and senior partner in the firm 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 barrister in 4 Lawn Buildings and all around dogsbody. 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. Like Helena she still retains some idealism and can dimly remember why she went into law in the first place.

Books

"Queen'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" (Harper Collins 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)

External links

* [http://www.qccartoon.com/ Queen's Counsel Official Website]
* [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/ Queen's Counsel comic strip at The Times Online]
* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1906217084/ Lawyers Uncovered - a collection of Queen's Counsel cartoons at Amazon.com]
* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/086051997X Queen's Counsel - A Libellous Look at The law - at Amazon.com]
* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/186105128X Queen's Counsel - Judgment Day - at Amazon.com]
* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1902254120 Queen's Counsel - Laying Down The Law - at Amazon.com]
* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0723010714 The Times - Best of Queen's Counsel - at Amazon.com]
* [http://www.alex-williams.com/ Alexander Williams' Official Website]