Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s claim to have “contributed” to a legal textbook which the book’s author said she simply did some photocopying for is conduct even a law student would avoid, a leading barrister and best-selling author has said.
The Big Issue reported last week that Braverman claimed to have contributed to a textbook on gambling in a chambers profile – effectively a barrister’s CV – but the author of the book clarified she made “no written or editorial contribution”.
Braverman did not respond to questions about her contribution but the chambers said she requested the profile was removed from its website after the Big Issue contacted her.
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The Secret Barrister, a best-selling author and legal commentator, said the story was “deeply troubling” and told the Big Issue: “Even as a law student, you are told that to embellish something on a CV is verboten. For a practising barrister to include on a chambers profile something which is not merely an exaggeration but knowing false, is the type of dishonest conduct that should rightly attract the attention of the Bar Standards Board.”
“Solicitors and lay clients should be entitled to trust that, when a barrister asserts that they contributed to a legal textbook, they are telling the truth.”
