The evidence: The barrister's desk

Barrister Chris Cleverly is the founder of Trafalgar Chambers. He specialises in legal-aid defence work in criminal law.

"When you first become a tenant in chambers, you have to buy your own desk (1). I found this for pounds 150, which was a bit of a bargain. You get a wig box (2) when you graduate, I've had mine for nine years. I tend to do all my typing at home on my computer, so the typewriter (3) is just for letters and urgent things. The pink ribbon on the briefs (4) means it's a defence case, white means it's prosecution. I hope the names aren't legible or I'll be getting calls from offenders' mothers. The book (5) is Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not, which I found on my Dad's bookshelves. The letter (6) is to someone applying to chambers, it's really difficult at the moment, there are more people wanting to enter the profession than there are practising barristers. As for the tidy-desk, tidy-mind thing, I don't believe a tidy mind allows any lateral thinking. It's not usually this tidy." Interview by Aoife O'Riordain

Photograph by Adrian Fisk