My Life of Crime

Ivan Lawrence was born in 1936 in Brighton to a working-class family. He did his National Service in the RAF during the Suez crisis, then went to Oxford University on a state scholarship before deciding on a career in the law. He became a barrister in 1962 and has spent 48 years at the Criminal Bar, 28 of them as a Queen’s Counsel and 19 years as a Recorder of the Crown Courts. He has won a considerable reputation as a defender, appearing in over 80 murder trials and in some of the UK’s most notorious cases, such as those of the Kray twins, the serial killer Denis Nilsen and the Brighton Babes in the Wood murders. He was knighted in 1992. Ivan Lawrence was elected as MP for Burton in 1974, and was re-elected six times until he lost the seat in 1997. In 2003 he became Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Buckingham. He is a broadcaster and frequent contributor to national newspapers and magazines, and initiated the National Lottery with a private member’s Bill in Parliament.