A behind the scenes look at some of the most important, groundbreaking legal cases in recent British history. Fascinating read but sometimes the legal speak can be a bit much for the novice to follow.

interesting, well written and entertaining. I really enjoyed this book that kept me hooked till the end.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Utterly brilliant insight into the legal world. Under the Wig is a beautiful mixture of interesting criminal cases and the long journey to get to the top of the profession. For a book dealing with such grim issues it is a very light, easy read. The style is charming and very accessible, not at all the dry work I had expected.

I was fascinated to be able to see behind some of the biggest crimes in recent years, such as the phone hacking scandal and the Wimbledon Common murder. The lengths the legal teams go to is impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed this eye-opening read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this book. I thought it was just great, the tone and the content was pitched just right for the general public and not directed specifically the law fraternity. I enjoyed it until I got to the acknowledgements at the end and discovered that pressure of time resulted in a ghost writer creating the work from conversations had with the 'author' which somehow devalued, for me, what I had just read. Sort of felt a bit conned. Nevertheless entertaining, the reader will recognise many of the trials included in this work and I will keep it to re-read another day.

An interesting introduction to the British legal world, with some fantastic anecdotes and fascinating points as to how the whole system has changed over Clegg's career.

Having had barely any understanding of the barrister / QC progression prior to reading this book, I now have a much better understanding, and it doesn't feel like he's teaching the reader, as such, more as if he is talking to a friend.

If any potential reader has an interest in the British courts, I would absolutely recommend a read of this book.

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review
#underthewig #netgalley

I enjoyed this book. Having recently read The Secret Barrister and Sarah Langford's In Your Defence, William Clegg's account measured up well. There were a couple of sections, about financial cases/fraud that didn't grip me but on the whole I was interested, especially by the insight into how the Inns of Court and chambers function. It was great to get another perspective on the Rachel Nickell murder case after having read Paul Britten's account of his contribution to the profiling of the suspect.

One of my favourite types of nonfiction is about the law. I am fascinated at how it works, and of course like many I have a morbid fascination in crimes. Clegg has weaved together a fantastic collection of personal stories whilst helping the reader have some insight into how the legal world works. His tone was warm and I found myself rooting for him despite the people he was defending. When a judge 'nominated' him for an oscar for a witty speech I could see why.
A really enjoyable read, as well as eye opening. I hope work into the funding for legal aid improves but it seems doubtful. I also hope for people like Clegg that one day they no longer need the horse hair wig, as he says; if you need it to prove yourself, you're not doing a good job. Plus, does anyone look good in that wig?

a very interesting read ..not the type of book I would normally read but I did enjoy it.. for snyone thinking of studying law. or jyst interested about how it all works..

Wasn't sure what to expect from this book but I'm truly loving it. I love the insight this gives into the world of the courts. To the details about cases over the years and the process to becoming a barrister, QC etc.
So happy to have had the opportunity to read this book.

Under the Wig was given to me NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

All the thoughts and opinions expressed are solely mine

Under the Wig is the memoir of William Clegg QC, the book is told in alternating chapters ,with one chapter being about a case he has worked on , while the next tells the story of how he came to be a barrister, then a QC.

As a true crime reader I found the book making for fascinating read, the writing flow nicely and I found that once you started reading it's very hard to put down so I decided to read the whole book in one sitting.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in law, recent history or true crime.

A fascinating glimpse behind the wigs and gowns of criminal barrister William Clegg as he gives the reader an educational guide to the British criminal legal system, and walks them through several of the incredibly high-profile cases in which he has been involved.
Jill Dando, Rachel Nickell, Joanna Yeates, Lin & Megan Russell.... so many of the most heart-breaking headlines in the UK have ended up with Clegg defending accused parties, many of whom have actually been innocent men. His analytical approach to researching his subjects and case histories is done with an admirable distancing from the emotion of the subject matter, ensuring he doesn't get swept up in the public hysteria.
An excellent read for anyone interested in the machinations of the British legal system.

I struggled with this a little: although I'm familiar with the bar, I found the level of detail on chambers politics strange. I enjoyed reading about the cases Clegg had been involved, and had recently (and coincidentally) read Unnatural Causes, and this provided a nice companion text. I was glad to see Clegg talking frankly about the crisis in legal aid. I felt that the book lacked strong narrative direction or focus.

As a lover of real life crime books I found this book really interesting.
We are given a ring side seat of how the law works in Britain through the work and eyes of William Clegg QC.
I throughly enjoyed reading about the various cases he had been involved in- Also how he works as a defence barrister in some of Britain’s biggest criminal cases.
For anyone who loves crime or want to see how the law works. This is for you.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Canbury Press Ltd for my eARC book in exchange for my honest unbiased review.

I really enjoy reading books about the law so when I spotted Under the Wig in the Read Now section of NetGalley recently I immediately downloaded it.

Under the Wig is the memoir of William Clegg QC and makes for a fascinating read. The book is told in alternating chapters where one chapter is about a famous case he has worked on and the other gradually tells his story of how he came to be a barrister.

William Clegg has worked on some very high profile cases and it was really interesting to hear about them from a defence barrister’s perspective. He gives his opinion on the outcome of each particular case in the course of a chapter and I really appreciated that. He covers cases such as the murder of Jill Dando, where he worked on Barry George’s appeal. We also get to see how it is for a barrister to work for a man who has confessed to manslaughter such as in the case of Vincent Tabak (who was convicted of murdering Joanna Yeates at Christmas 2010).

I was particularly interested in the chapter about legal aid. I was well aware of cuts in legal aid as it’s often been in the news but I didn’t know the impact it was having in real terms. It’s shocking to see how much funding has been cut and the potential this has for preventing people from accessing a good defence team.

I’ve definitely come away from this book with a little more understanding of some aspects of the law than I had before. It makes more sense to me now how some points of a case get dropped early on, and how different points are argued during a trial.

This is a gripping book – one that once you start reading you just don’t want to put down. The writing flows and it reads like a fiction book in the sense that it’s very accessible and holds your interest from start to finish. I really enjoyed Under the Wig and definitely recommend it!

Clegg looks back over his long and illustrious career as a barrister defending notorious cases such as the murders of joanna Yeates and Rachel Nickell as well as Nazi war criminals. He describes the workings of the justice system, how it’s changed with policies such as the reduction in legal aid, and the painstaking research needed to do real justice to complex and high profile cases.
I found it fascinating and a real insight into what makes the court room tick, how to get a jury on your side, how barristers’ chambers work and what barristers really earn.
Thoroughly recommended for true crime enthusiasts and anyone with an interest in criminal law.

A fascinating look into the world of a trial attorney.William Clegg well renowned takes us behind the serene of his most famous cases.Anyone interested in the real world of criminal law the lawyers the defendants the courtroom proceedings this is the book for you, #netgalley #canburypres

A brilliant legal mind writes a wonderful book regarding some of the cases he has dealt with during his long and successful career as a barrister.
William Clegg QC, with the assistance of a former client who is a journalist as a ghostwriter, has produced a wonderful book which will appeal to those with an interest in the law and those who work on this field.
Each chapter covers a different case he dealt with and includes many famous cases such as Colin Stagg, the News of the World phone hacking case, the appeals of Barry George (who was accused of murdering Jill Dando) and Private Lee Clegg.
William Clegg is renowned and respected throughout his area of practice and his book is a reflection of this.
A fantastic and fascinating read. Highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent read, very enjoyable. The book is extremely well written (unsurprisingly) and focuses on key cases interspersed with a behind the scenes look at the operational aspect of being a QC. I would recommend.

I thought Under The Wig was an excellent account of a barrister’s life.

William Clegg QC is a leading barrister with decades of experience in the practice of English law. In this commendably brief memoir he intersperses explanations of how a barrister’s life works and some reminiscences of his own progress with outlines of some famous cases where he has acted for the defence. These include Colin Stagg, cleared of killing Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common, Barry George, cleared of shooting Jill Dando and many others. Clegg (with his ghost writer, John Troup) has a crisp, honest, matter-of-fact style which I found both readable and very effective in conveying both the interesting factual elements and the more dramatic aspects of trial work.

At about 150 pages, Under The Wig says more than a lot of books twice its length. It is both a fascinating read and a welcome, timely account. If you have any interest whatsoever in legal matters and the way the law works in England, Wales and Northern Ireland I can recommend it very highly.

(My thanks to Canbury Press for an ARC via NetGalley.)

I’ve always been interested in the law. Not to the extent that I’ve wanted to be involved career wise (I’m firmly in team health professional), but I think it’s more an interest in the unknown and archaic world of the British justice system. It’s riddled with traditions that make it distinctly unique (mentioned here are the ‘nosegays’ given to judges at the Old Bailey, and the displaying of one of the great swords of the City of London in the court of the most senior judge) and I just find that fascinating. Under the Wig helps lift that lid into this rather closeted world, and really brought to life a world I, respectfully, hope never to be deeply involved in.

This read like a memoir in part, as we follow William Clegg QC he starts his career in law, eventually leading to him ‘taking the silk’ and becoming a barrister and head of chambers. Interspersed between this are the stories of some of his most memorable cases in the world of murder, fraud and war criminals. I liked this method of writing, because it broke up would could have been an otherwise ‘dry’ subject with injections of humour, compassion and humility. Law is so complicated, and the book needed this touch of ‘down to earth’ to appeal to a wider audience.

There were a number of topics that I had no idea about, especially Legal Aid, that I found really interesting. There was a distinct amount of passion for the subject of ‘pro bono’ cases, and the reduction in government funding that has a massive knock on effect in the profession that I had no idea about. Everything in law seems to have a cause and effect that influences everyone from the secretaries and clerks to the solicitors and barristers. It’s stressed a number of times that it’s seen as a family, and this was very endearing to me.

It was also really interesting to read a book from ‘the other side’, from a defence perspective rather than prosecution. This was particularly true in the Miss Yeates murder trial, where he was on the defence team. I found myself on a couple of occasions comparing it to a number of FBI heavy novels I’ve read (Mindhunter springs to mind), and seeing the various methods employed by both, and the differences they have. It was fascinating. William Clegg QC is very much anti capital punishment because of possible miscarriages of justice, and I thought he did a good job of putting his reasons for this across.

I did find at times that the author comes across as quite reserved, as if he’s holding something back. I think this is a downfall to his profession, where the poker face is key, but I really wanted a bit ‘more’ emotion. He readily admits at one point that he’s not sentimental or emotional, rapidly moving on from case to case (a decent coping mechanism with such a heavy workload) but I think I could have connected better with him if he’d shown a bit more vulnerability.

An excellent read into a world that before now has been largely hidden from me. Highly recommended for lovers of the law and true crime to gain a truely unique perspective from the defence side.