Unlike the United States, where all courtroom lawyers are called attorneys, England and Wales split the legal profession into two distinct roles: solicitors and barristers. Solicitors handle client intake, gather evidence, and manage paperwork, while barristers specialize in courtroom advocacy and are hired, or “instructed,” by solicitors for serious cases. This structural division, rooted in centuries of legal tradition, shapes the novel’s world. Leila’s career depends not only on her courtroom skill but on a web of professional relationships: Clerks like Jim distribute cases and manage a barrister’s workload, solicitors like Davina funnel briefs to chambers, and the head of chambers, Chester Vernon, wields significant influence over professional trajectories.

Barristers operate as self-employed practitioners working from shared offices known as chambers, a term Leila learns early never to call “an office” (8). This self-employed status carries a crucial implication: Barristers from the same chambers can find themselves on opposing sides of the same case, as Julian and Leila do. There is no equivalent to an American law firm’s conflict-of-interest prohibition that prevents colleagues from facing each other in court. Spouses can also oppose one another provided they “act professionally and impartially” (16). The financial model also differs sharply from American practice. Barristers pay a percentage of their fees into chambers to cover shared costs, which explains why Julian’s high earnings as King’s Counsel make him a valuable asset to the law firm. Junior barristers, meanwhile, endure financial instability without the salary protections that American associates at law firms typically receive.

Class permeates this system at every level. The Bar Standards Board’s Diversity at the Bar 2021 report found that 19.3% of all barristers attended a UK independent school (the British term for a private, fee-paying school) between the ages of 11 and 18, nearly three times the approximately 7% rate among schoolchildren in England, and that among barristers who disclosed their educational background, roughly one in three were privately educated (“Diversity at the Bar 2021.” 2022). Leila’s Geordie accent and lack of connections mark her as an outsider among colleagues like Ophelia, “daughter of a High Court judge, who scraped a pass at law school” (17) yet faces no barrier to entry. The novel dramatizes how elite professional networks reward pedigree over merit, with Leila’s peers routinely assuming she advances only through her marriage to Julian. Her determination to maintain her regional accent despite being advised to “water it down” (10) becomes an act of quiet resistance against a profession that has historically rewarded conformity to upper-class norms. Visible markers of status further reinforce the hierarchy: King’s Counsel wear lighter silk robes and may use a lectern in court. In contrast, junior barristers like Leila wear heavier wool gowns and must stand unaided, differences the jury can plainly see.

Central to the plot is the cab-rank rule, one of the Bar’s most distinctive ethical principles. This rule requires barristers to accept any case within their competence and availability, regardless of personal feelings about the client or the charge. When Jim reminds Leila that “if a client wants you to represent them, you can’t turn them down” (12), he invokes this obligation, binding her to Jack Millman’s defense despite her inexperience with murder trials and her marital connection to the prosecutor. In American law, attorneys possess far greater discretion to decline representation. The cab-rank rule thus serves a dual narrative function. It explains why Leila cannot simply walk away from what appears to be an overwhelming case. Furthermore, it cements Leila and Jack’s secret plan, which relies upon Leila defending him in court. Once Jack requests Leila as his defense, the cab-rank rule is set in motion; Leila can feign trepidation in taking the case while executing her own Machiavellian plan.