Helen Easterbrook

Attempting to survive at the Criminal Bar | Doing the right thing, not the easy thing | Lead, follow or get out of the way

[Drystone Chambers @DrystoneCrime]

Robert Bryan, Leading Junior, Legal 500, 2025 #WesternCircuit https://t.co/UTDKHpfw21

[Mary Aspinall-Miles @MAMBarLife]

There will be some wondering why experienced RASSO lawyers *complain* about burn out or overload or just leave.

Then find out the entry level requirements have been lowered.
Be careful for what you wish for.
@TheCriminalBar

[Mary Aspinall-Miles @MAMBarLife]

This is a plea to my male colleagues @TheCriminalBar :
We get it. We see you. We are ready to listen. Would rather you listen to you alive than weep later.

Nothing is more important than those minutes in a robing room
when I ask you how you are.

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@bored_cormorant And for the extroverts...

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@bored_cormorant May your splash be luminous

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@DefenceFaithful I'd say yes. I can see circumstances where a punch might split the skin to the required degree for a s20 wounding.

[Joanna Hardy-Susskind @Joanna__Hardy]

Some of our courts are setting trial dates in 2027. Prisons are the problem today. But there are more problems coming tomorrow.

This isn’t a prison crisis. It’s a criminal justice crisis. Releasing a few thousand gives the government time. But it doesn’t give it answers.

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@Foyles I don't suppose anyone is answering your helpline number today are they please? I've been listening to your hold music for almost half an hour already :(

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

Riddle me this, guy on a train with noise cancelling headphones... worn round his neck, sound turned up high so he's inflicting his music on everyone else. Why? Just why?

[Joanna Hardy-Susskind @Joanna__Hardy]

@RishiSunak * Waiting until 2026 for a trial date so the guilty can serve their sentence at home on tag? NO MERCY.

* Letting people out of prison early due to chronic mismanagement of the prison estate? NO MERCY.

* Trial delays so long that victims give up? NO MERCY.

[Joanna Hardy-Susskind @Joanna__Hardy]

Your local friendly criminal barrister here to remind you that you can’t just go shoplifting.

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@bored_cormorant Please be nice to the interviewees!

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@MAMBarLife Lets not forget that in doing so we're also propping up a system desperately short of us. If we didn't provide cover, didn't log into multiple hearings the backlog would be even longer than it is

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@TweetingYet @SpartanRace Running with a hydration pack for that very reason!

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@TweetingYet @SpartanRace Damn I didn't know you were there this weekend! I'm doing the Super tomorrow

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@fightingsailor 4) Notice is crucial. Gaps are, to a large extent, predictable. If you give reservists notice they'll generally move heaven and earth to assist.

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@fightingsailor 3) I know you didn't mean it in this way but treating service numbers as parts numbers isn't great for morale/retention. There is a careful balance to be struck with a workforce that is, in effect one based on a zero hours 'contract'

[Helen Easterbrook @h_easterbrook]

@BehaviouralC