Q9 - It seems that it might be difficult to write from a fictional, outside perspective on your own profession. Did you find it challenging to not unconsciously revert back into your professional mindset or “role” of a barrister while writing this novel? Any surprises in the way being a lawyer affected your persona as author?

A - An important challenge for me in writing courtroom drama is to know what to leave out. Parts of the trial process are obviously boring and yet the reader must have the illusion that he is seeing everything. With Final Witness I tried never to lose sight of the fact that I was writing a story which is only partly told through the courtroom medium. I cut the trial scenes with flashbacks seen through the eyes of the main protagonists, and with action outside the court so that the legal drama never became monotonous. Being a criminal lawyer helped me enormously, but only so long as I treated my inside knowledge of the courts as a writing tool rather than an end in itself.