Criminal lawyers make ‘boring’ dinner party guests, says judge

Tells newspaper his wife insists on inviting only one at a time because ‘they cannot resist boasting about their triumphs’

A judge has told how his wife insists on inviting no more than one lawyer to their dinner parties because lawyers, particularly those in the criminal courts, “cannot resist boasting about their triumphs”.

In a letter to the editor of The Times (£), the judge says lawyers have a lot to answer for when it comes to “boring dinner parties”.

“My wife, not a lawyer, does her very best to avoid them and insists that we invite no more than one lawyer to any dinner party,” says the letter published in the newspaper on Sunday and signed “His Honour Simon Tonking” of Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire.

It continues:

“Her reason, which is sound, is that lawyers, particularly those in the criminal courts, cannot resist boasting about their triumphs, each of which they misguidedly think makes a cracking good story.”

The letter adds: “Any other lawyer present tries to cap that story with their own; and off we go. Or rather on and on we go. Add wine to the mix and we are unstoppable.”