Jahan Kalantar is a successful criminal defence lawyer and advocate in Australia and in his memoir Talk Your Way Out of Trouble - Life Lessons from the Law I thought he was going to teach us how to talk our own way out of legal trouble should we ever find ourselves in it. I was hopeful he'd share the type of advice he's cultivated in his career and now regularly gives his clients. However, this isn't really that book.
Instead, this is Kalantar's memoir from his early days as a law student and law graduate, right through to the successful criminal lawyer he is today. This comprises time spent working as a solicitor in several different areas of the law and figuring out that wasn't his preferred career path for a variety of reasons. It also includes his time studying for the bar and qualifying as a barrister before deciding the wig - and everything that came with it - wasn't for him. Based in Sydney, Kalantar is also a university lecturer, social media commentator and public speaker so he's seen plenty of legal cases and helped more clients than he could probably count.
In this book, the author shares his career progression and a number of memorable cases that have shaped his view of life and the law along the way. Some cases and clients are touching or poignant and some are even funny but Kalantar doesn't shy away from sharing his mistakes along with his successes.
"Show up each day, do your best to adapt with grace, show resilience in the face of adversity and remember that mastery and perfection are a myth. Every day is simply us trying, it's why we call the work of a lawyer, practice." AfterwordI listened to the audiobook narrated by the author himself and it was interesting but wasn't the reading experience I anticipated. Instead, I assumed I was going to learn how to talk myself out of trouble. Naturally I accept full responsibility for jumping to the wrong conclusion about the contents, although I do wonder if the title misled any other readers in a similar way.
The author offers an effective method of saying sorry and it was a more succinct version of the method offered in Sorry, Sorry, Sorry - The Case for Good Apologies by Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy. It was also the subject of a TEDxSydney event entitled A perfect apology in three steps which might be of interest to some readers.
After a generous and heartfelt series of Acknowledgements at the end of his book, I enjoyed this surprising addition:
"On the other side of the coin, I also want to take a moment to acknowledge the many people I've encountered during my years who were unnecessarily cruel, mean spirited, difficult and plainly unkind. On behalf of myself, and everyone else working to make the world a better place, fu*k you! I wrote this book anyway. I hope the lessons in it inspire you to live better, and seek to see the best in people before casting judgement." AcknowledgementsI'm sure many authors have had similar thoughts when publishing their work, but huge kudos to Kalantar for having the courage to include it for all to see. Loved it!
Talk Your Way Out of Trouble - Life Lessons from the Law by Jahan Kalantar is an excellent choice for anyone considering a career in law, law adjacent lines of work or advocacy.
