Get Carman

George Carman was both the best-liked and most feared advocate at the English Bar. He was also the best known. In any looming libel battle, the side that was first to pay George a comfortable retainer had an incalculable advantage...Many barristers are clever, some are skilful and a few are good looking. But there are now none left who can fill the public gallery on star quality alone. Joshua Rozenberg, Daily Telegraph

George Carman QC was, and perhaps still is, Britain's most famous lawyer within living memory. Equally feared and respected, he made his name as an erudite and incisive advocate largely in the field of libel. In the 1980s and 90s, no high profile libel case was complete without the diminutive QC who had the ability to wipe the courtroom floor with the high and mighty, often with a smart turn of phrase that guaranteed headlines in the following day's newspapers. Coming to prominence with his superb defence of disgraced former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe on a charge of conspiracy to murder, in subsequent years Carman defended many well-known faces from the worlds of entertainment, sport, politics and business, including Ken Dodd, Richard Branson, Mohammed Al Fayed and Elton John.

Away from court, Carman was a complex and private yet not unsociable man. In 1986, he met barrister Karen Phillipps and, although she turned down his immediate proposal of marriage, the two would have a close platonic relationship for the rest of Carman's life.

George Carman intended to write his memoirs but became too ill to complete the book and died on January 2, 2001. Using his papers, press cuttings and court transcripts along with the testimonies of some of those who saw Carman in action, and her own extensive memories of her close friend, Karen Phillipps presents a portrait of this eminent advocate through the cases he became famous for conducting. All the drama of the courtroom world that Carman belonged to is here, along with some of the best and most entertaining theatre the English justice system has ever seen.