The Brief

Unconventional barrister Henry Farmer takes on an un-winnable murder case as his personal life falls apart around him. Saddled with alimony and gambling debts he is tempted into taking on too much work by his scheming Senior Clerk. Henry defends a woman of murdering her partners two children; a dodgy, but wealthy businessman of receiving stolen goods and a foreign businessman, who has had a sale in his shop for the last 30 years, of obtaining by deception.

Henry Farmer risks a misconduct charge when he takes up the cause of obsessive father, Costas Nicolaou, who is convinced his daughter was raped and murdered at a party in the Far East. Henry comes head to head with Coroner's court judge, Greenaway, when he requests an inquest into what has been deemed by Indonesian authorities as an accidental death.

Henry moves away from his usual role as a defence barrister when he is persuaded to prosecute a 12-year-old girl in a gripping murder trial. He comes up against devious defence barrister Marcel Crane. Henry quickly discovers the case may not be as cut and dry as he thought and begins to question the innocence of his own child to the defence, and in doing so risks losing the case.

Henry takes on the appeal of Peter McKee, a man convicted of murdering his partner through his involvement in a bizarre sex triangle ten years before. McKee, now a born again Christian with a law degree, proves to be a formidably difficult client and Henry comes into fierce professional conflict with Cleo over how to handle the appeal.

Henry Farmer is defending train driver Mick Westlake standing trial for manslaughter. Mick is accused of answering his mobile phone, running a red signal as a result. The train collided with an oncoming goods train killing nine commuter passengers on board. Henry wants to know more about this version of events as he is convinced that Traxco, the rail company, should shoulder the responsibility as their health and safety record is questionable. However, the plot certainly thickens... was the phone answered at all and should Mick have been at work in the first place?

Henry Farmer is defending a young man accused of murdering his mother. But for Dan Otway his mother Bridget was the centre of his universe because Dan has Asperger's Syndrome and had never spent a night apart from her in all his 22 years. Dan refuses to plead guilty to murder, and Dan doesn't tell lies. But if he didn't kill his mother, who did?