Luke Wells looks like he has it all. High-ceilinged, late-Georgian chambers overlooking the Walks in Gray’s Inn, now catching the last of the evening light. Tall bookcases crammed with planet-brained case law. Dark grey suit on his back – from a little gem of a Soho tailor who does the best cutting for Savile Row. Wig and gown hanging off his panelled door – handy for the quick sprint to Court Number One at the Old Bailey to rescue that battered glamourpuss, wrongly accused of murdering her lover, currently splashed all over page three of the Telegraph. 

I’ve found the perfect school for Harry and Meghan

Ed Sheeran, Macklemore and the ugly new anti-Semitism

The Church of England is destroying itself

Well, that’s what Luke thought he would be doing after reading law at Lincoln College, Oxford, and bar school. He’d been brought up on Rumpole of the Bailey and John Grisham – and so plumped for criminal sets when he applied for pupillage. 

That’s why he’s just got back from Chelmsford Crown Court for an application to vary bail conditions for a serial shoplifter. Fee – £350. Return rail fare – £12.90. Time spent getting there and back, waiting for case to be heard? All bloody day. Time spent waiting for fee to arrive in........

© The Spectator