About this blog

Accessible legal tips, know-how and news for anyone with a complaint or legal issue from Stephen Gold, author of The Return of Breaking Law, the book

Read the reviews!

"What I find staggering is the scope of this work and the practical advice delivered in plain English…The golden touch is that this former district judge is a wonderful ‘explainer’..Those who are lawyers such as me and Peter Thompson QC will learn something -perhaps an awful lot- from this magnificent work." 
Professor Dominic Regan

"This second edition .. is divided into two parts. The first .. includes a highly entertaining account of the pitfalls of acting in civil cases as the solicitor on call for well-known figures — in this case the Kray twins. Ingeniously he obtained a divorce for Ronnie from his first wife on the grounds that she had deserted him. The second, longer part is a self-help guide that draws from his experience in the law and as a consumer. It is a book that should be in every public library, at every legal advice centre and on the bedside table of every litigant in person."
James Morton, The Times


“Who needs a lawyer once you have Stephen Gold’s Breaking Law  to hand! An accessible, comprehensive guide to our legal rights. It’s an amazing achievement.”
Jon Snow, Channel 4 News

"Breaking Law is an amusing, entertaining, and incredibly useful book explaining how to make the law work for you, not against you. If you’ve ever wondered what a judge would say about any legal predicament you find yourself in, well here’s the answer!” 
Piers Morgan, broadcaster and writer


“Written clearly and with a real sense of fun, at last a text which strips bare the complexities of our legal system so you, too, can “survive without a lawyer”.....  Our Law, at last, accessible to us.”
Anna Botting, Sky News


"Fun to read but a vital source of knowledge if you are thinking of using the courts"
Justin Webb BBC Radio 4


"A master-class in civil procedure. Whatever your case is about Stephen Gold sets you on the path to winning or (since this is England) losing well. The specimen witness statement about the sale of 62 Wayne Rooney miniatures had me in stitches. A litigant in person would find it all very useful and the seasoned lawyer would learn something too. I did.”
Peter Thompson QC, General Editor of the Civil Court Practice (the “Green Book’) 

“A magnificent tome. A ‘must read’ for any student or lover or the law.”
Fred Dinenage, Television Presenter and writer

“An absolute *must* for someone who is suing, or being sued, and is doing it without a lawyer.”
Daniel Barnett, barrister and legal talk show presenter LBC

"self-deprecating, funny, practical and wise" "A legal textbook that is genuinely funny? You are joking. Well, not if it is written by one of the best legal communicators of my lifetime. Stephen Gold has crammed in too much as a successful solicitor, district judge and prolific author to be restrained by convention. He writes as he speaks, self-deprecating, funny, practical and wise. ...."

Reviewed by Nigel Pascoe QC in Counsel Magazine, January 2017
Read the full review here

"This is a welcome second edition of a book packed with useful information for consumers and non-lawyers. It is stuffed full of practical hints from a former solicitor and judge. Although written with the litigant in person and non-lawyer in mind, solicitors will also benefit from the insight."
Reviewed by David Pickup in the Law Society Gazette, October 2021
Read the full review here