BabyBarista and the Art of War [Paperback]

`With every turn of the page, my eyebrows moved slightly further up my forehead. There was I, assuming the junior bar was crammed with the serious and the high-minded, where the only trace of ambition is the politest nudge ... BabyBarista shows the eagles and eaglets with their talons out and their feathers up. It is a wonderful, racing read - well-drawn, smartly plotted and laugh out loud - and we all just have to pray that none of it is true. You'll never look at a young lawyer in the same way again.' --Jeremy Vine, broadcaster and journalist

`A cross between The Talented Mr Ripley, Rumpole and Bridget Jones's Diary ... a gallop of a read'
--The Times

`BabyBarista is a classic British comedy set in a world of vanity, egos and cut-throat ambition that puts even the acting profession into the shade. It's sassy, sexy and hilariously funny.'

`BabyBarista provides an entertaining and highly amusing insight into the mysterious world of wigs and gowns. Right from the start the gloves are off and the fight for tenancy is no less dramatic than a top class boxing match. It's a terrific read which makes you both laugh and keep the pages turning. It also confirms what I've always suspected - that the courtroom is not so different from the boxing ring.'

`If you wanted reassurance that the gentlemen and ladies of the Bar were exactly that ... then prepare for a highly entertaining disappointment. Tim Kevan's BabyBarista is hardly a hero ... but he's very clever, very funny, and his double dealing antics had me gripped. They also made me sincerely hope I never need the services of a junior barrister.'

Litigation is like war, BabyBarista. Read this and learn. It's BabyBarista's first day as a pupil barrister in chambers. Never mind his legal qualifications; it's his summer working in Starbucks that's going to stand him in good stead, since coffee-making seems to be his chief responsibility (with the odd bout of photocopying to relieve the tedium). He's got one year to make his mark and prove by foul means or fair that, out of the four pupil barristers, he's the one who deserves to stay on and win the sought-after prize of a tenancy in chambers. It's sort of like Big Brother, but with little horsehair wigs. Once assigned to a pupilmaster, an oily character he calls TheBoss, BabyB retreats to his tiny desk in a dusty corner to consider the competition: TopFirst, a Cambridge graduate with a prizewinning CV and an ego to match; BusyBody, a human whirlwind on a husband hunt; and finally wide-eyed Worrier, who carries the world on her anxious shoulders. 'If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles,' says Sun Tzu, whose book The Art of War is becoming BabyB's bible. Quietly, he smiles to himself, and begins to make some plans Part Rumpole, part Flashman, crafty and naive by turns both in and out of court, BabyBarista opens a window onto the fascinating and secretive (and frequently absurd) ways of the legal profession through his secret blog. Puncturing pomposity and exposing injustice with subversive wit, this diary of a nobody is an hilarious tour around the modern bar.

Tim Kevan practised as a barrister in London for ten years. Educated at Cambridge University, he is also the co-author of Why Lawyers Should Surf (with Dr Michelle Tempest) and the co-founder of two businesses: CPD Webinars and Law Brief Publishing. He lives in Braunton, North Devon and enjoys surfing.