Life-changing minute

Young barrister working to inform us all about the system’s wrongs and our rights – ‘not intimidated by racists’

Did you know that when a temporary Section 60 order is in place, police can stop and search you without the grounds for suspicion they would normally need? Or if you a buy a faulty product, you must return it within 30 days to be entitled to a cash refund? 

Christian Weaver thinks you ought to know. He is a 27-year-old prison law barrister on a mission to teach people about their rights. He says people need to know the law so they can stand up to the police, retailers, employers or landlords – “Of course they know the law, and they almost all rely on the imbalance of power, of you not knowing it.” His new book, The Law in 60 Seconds, is a wide-ranging guide to the law for people who may never have given it much thought.

My parents, Black parents, were raising a child right in the aftermath of a young Black man being killed for no reason, so they tried to instil an element of cautiousness in me.

Speaking to Inside Time, Christian explains that since he was a boy he has felt passionately about human rights and politics. He puts this down in part to the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, the year before he was born, and the bungled police investigation that followed. He says: “My parents, Black parents, were raising a child right in the aftermath of a young Black man being killed for no reason, so they tried to instil an element of cautiousness in me. I think Black parents have always spoken to their children about what to do if they’re stopped and searched, but I think in the time I grew up it was about not walking alone in certain areas at night – and the danger that the very institutions that are meant to protect you might not care enough to protect you.”

Christian grew up in Nottingham, dubbed “Shottingham” at the time for its high rate of gun crime. His parents, both professionals, sent him to private school – yet he says many of his Black friends were stopped and searched by police, or pulled over in their cars once they turned 17 or 18 and started to drive.

Another formative episode from his childhood came when his grandfather became the victim of a campaign of harassment, finding his car repeatedly smeared with dog faeces. The police were told, but nothing was done and it kept happening. Christian says: “I remember my granddad put a big placard up outside the house saying ‘This family will not be intimidated by racists’. And soon enough the incidents stopped. I remember being inspired that my granddad was doing something so defiant to stand up for what was right.”

Christian went to university and law college in Nottingham, then worked for the charity Inquest, which investigates deaths in custody. Eventually he landed a “pupillage”, a key career step, and this year he became a fully-qualified barrister at Garden Court North Chambers in Manchester.

Along the way, he made a short YouTube video to inform his friends about what to do when stopped and searched by police. A series of videos followed, called The Law in 60 Seconds. His engaging tone, clear presentation, and the fact that he does not come across as a typical lawyer ensured that they became a hit. He decided to turn the idea into a spin-off book, which took three years to write.

Some sections of the book, such as those dealing with consumer law and tenancy law, were outside Christian’s own fields of expertise, so he had to do a lot of research. At one stage while writing the book, he was able to put his new knowledge to good effect when he moved into a new flat with a broken toilet – and was told to use one in a vacant flat down the corridor. He says: “I was able to speak to my landlord in a certain way, whereby he would click that I knew my rights, was trying to be reasonable, but was willing to take things further. I wanted to get it right so they’d actually fix the problem – and they did.”

Christian nowadays mostly represents prisoners seeking release or progression at Parole Board hearings. The role involves a lot of time spent poring over dossiers ahead of hearings, picking out discrepancies and challenging the reliance placed on intelligence reports. He says he, “naturally gravitated” towards this area of law because it gives him a chance to, “amplify the voice of the person who might not ordinarily have one because of where they find themselves”. He is also a trustee of The Defendant, the helpline charity set up by Liam Allan and Hannah Arkwright to provide advice and support to people facing trial. 

Christian worries that the costs of training to become a lawyer, including college fees and £1,000 for a wig and gown, might deter some able people from poorer backgrounds from entering the profession. He tells how, as a young Black barrister, he has been mistaken for a defendant by other lawyers and court staff. He hopes more lawyers will follow his lead in seeking to educate the public about the law: “We have a role in addressing those power imbalances. We’ve been through law school, we understand how the justice system works, and that’s something so intimidating to a lot of people.”

The Law in 60 Seconds by Christian Weaver is published by Profile Books – £7.37 from WH Smith