Judith Fordham has worn zebra-print shoes into a courtroom, represented transsexuals, bikies, alleged murderers and rapists, and raised four children on her own. Life, Law and Not Enough Shoes is her story, from her early life struggling on welfare to becoming a top barrister and Associate Professor of Forensics.
Life, Law and Not Enough Shoes, Judith Fordham
All right, all right. All those people who know me personally can stop snorting with laughter. The idea of me and a book about the love of shoes doesn't work. We all know that. Now if it had been hats, well maybe. But shoes. I've never seen the point - you've only got one pair of feet after all, and there's nowhere that a reasonably clean Blundstone can't take you if you look like you might bite back.
But I digress.
LIFE, LAW AND NOT ENOUGH SHOES is a memoir from Judith - a top criminal barrister and Associate Professor in Forensics in Western Australia. But this isn't a soul searching, deeply reflective consideration of a life lived. It's a light-hearted and sometimes tantalisingly capricious memoir that recounts some stories.
It's what I'd call a "queue book". Perfect to tuck into a handbag for a bit of a light read when you have a few moments, the stories range from a few very brief peeks at life as a single mother - struggling to study, through to some of the cases that Judith has been involved with, and finally into some of the outcomes of her change to a career in academia.
Most of the sections of this book wander around from subject to subject and they are quite brief. It needs to be read as a retelling of tales, yarns, a story that you'd tell a mate over a glass or two of something. As already mentioned, it's not deep, it's not soul searching and it doesn't provide a lot of detail on how a woman goes from a single mother of 4 with very little in the way of prospects to the heights of the criminal barrister world in Perth, through to becoming an Associate Professor. In fact it makes absolutely no attempt to really discuss anything in any depth. I would have loved to have know a little more about some of the cases and the defendants that Judith has worked for, but these are real cases, about real people and those people have a right to their privacy (and in some cases what dignity they can muster). I understand extra detail could have been difficult, and ultimately this probably wasn't what the book was aiming for. For what it is, a bit of light entertainment, it was really enjoyable.
But I really have to clarify:
"There the glitterati dispose of their once-worn Chanels, Diors, Tods, Pradas, Guccis, and most importantly Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos. [Note to males reading this section: ask a woman, any woman and she will tell you the significance of the preceding sentence]."
Don't, please don't, ask this woman. No idea. I mean I understand the words but I have no idea of the significance. If you can't wear it mucking out a chook shed chances are I've never noticed them.