An office party that got out of hand, furore over a You’ve Been Framed clip and a media frenzy after the killing of a hedgehog…these are just some of the anecdotes shared by a retired Fife solicitor in his tell-all book about his time in the legal profession.
Jonathan Matheson-Dear is originally from Dundee but spent his working life in Leven and Glenrothes, becoming a well-known face around Fife. In his career, he alternated between criminal and civil cases including family disputes.
Whilst keeping clients and colleagues anonymous, Jonathan has shared a “warts-and-all” account of his time in the courts in his self-published book, Mushroom Soup In Court.
A varied career
“I had stored up so many anecdotes throughout my professional life”, says Jonathan.
“When I retired I was at a loose end and my brother said to me that I needed to do something worthwhile with my retirement.
“So I thought, why not write a book about my experiences of being a solicitor! I had it printed by a local printer in Dunfermline.
“My aim wasn’t to make money out of it, it’s free to anyone interested. People can email me to get a hard copy, or I can send them an electronic version.”
In Mushroom Soup In Court, Jonathan writes about his successes as well as his failures, awkward situations and bizarre requests from clients.
Hedgehogs
His aim was to share a “warts-and-all” account of what it’s really like to be a lawyer.
Jonathan added: “I wanted the book to be digestible, so I purposely kept it quite short. Hopefully it will be a good read for people and so far I’ve had good feedback.
“All through my career, I dealt with heavy cases, but the one that caught the most attention from the press was a case about a man killing a hedgehog while under the influence of a “legal high”.
“The amount of publicity was phenomenal!”
