Interview with Lucy Organ, junior barrister for the defence

13 March 2017

Did you take much convincing to get involved?

Not really. I get on with John [Ryder] and trust him, so if he believed something was worthwhile and useful then I would tend to agree. Brian Barker being the judge also went a long way, as did Max [Hill] and Michelle [Nelson]’s involvement.

 

How authentic did The Trial feel?

Very, from the papers we received before the trial to the actual experts we would come across in our professional lives being the professional witnesses. Also, Michael Gould was incredible as Simon Davis, the defendant. We never saw him out of character until the end, which was a shock. Honestly, I said to people on the middle weekend that I was a bit worried, because I’d suspended reality so much that I’d started thinking I was in a proper murder trial!

 

How different was working on the case for The Trial to working on a real-life case?

There were plenty of procedural things. A massive issue for junior counsel tends to be disclosure, but there hadn’t been a real investigation here, so you couldn’t ask for the notes of the police officer that arrested our client, because they didn’t exist. Other than that, this felt like a proper trial, so to me that had value. I didn’t want it to be scripted or to be re-doing bits, and that didn’t happen.

 

What was the division of labour between you and John?

Generally I do the heavy lifting, making sure everything’s ready to go before the trial. In defending, a junior quite often doesn’t do much advocacy because cross-examination is a big deal, and if it’s a big deal you want the silk to do it. 

 

How would you describe John as a colleague?

I’ve worked with him a lot, and his cross-examination is probably one of the best in the business. He’s really good at finding the key issues, which is crucial in a murder trial where there’s a lot of peripheral stuff around.

 

Did The Trial feel like a good advert for the criminal justice system?
I hope so – I hope it will demystify things a little. People come to court and, if you’re of good character and have never been in trouble before, it can be so shocking and you can have no idea what’s going on. 

 

How has television has portrayed murder trials in the past?
It’s like portraying childbirth, it could never be the reality. It’s usually more about the personalities, if you think about shows like Silk or Judge John Deed. I don’t think it matters whether it’s portrayed accurately in TV drama or not, more that this offers a chance to get a slightly more realistic impression of what it’s like.