Isle of Wight Literary Festival: Karen Phillipps

Karen Phillipps shares the extraordinary story of George Carman QC, who was, and perhaps still is Britain’s most famous lawyer within living memory. Coming to prominence with his superb defence of disgraced former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe on a charge of conspiracy to murder, Carman subsequently defended many well-known faces the worlds of entertainment, sport, politics, and business, including Ken Dodd, Richard Branson and Elton John.

Away from court, Carman was a complex and private yet not unsociable man. In 1986, he met barrister Karen Phillipps and although she turned his immediate marriage proposal, the two would have a close platonic relationship for the rest of Carman’s life.

Carman intended to write his memoirs but became too ill to complete the book and died in 2001. Using his papers, press cuttings and court transcripts – along with the testimonies of some of those who saw him in action and her own extensive memories of her friend – Phillipps presents a portrait of this eminent advocate through the cases that made him famous.