ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is based upon PhD research conducted at the University of Bristol School of Law, between 2007 and 2011. The work was supported by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council [PTA-031-2006-00092].
First and foremost, I want to thank my PhD supervisors, Richard Young and Michael Naughton. Throughout my research, they provided invaluable expert and pastoral advice and I owe them a great deal in helping me to realise the potential of my funding. I could not have hoped for a pair of more knowledgeable or understanding supervisors.
I also need to thank my partner, Rhian Wilson - hopefully, Rhian Newman by the time this book is actually read! She has always been there for me and supported me throughout the various trials and tribulations that accompanied the research. I know she will believe that she is owed a particular debt of gratitude, being the one person (victim) I subjected to reading over my drafts, despite it being far more boring than one of her beloved travel guides.
In addition, I would like to thank my parents, Carl and Dawn Newman, and my grandparents, Norman and Gloria Cook. In so many ways, they put me in the position to do the research in the first place. They made sure that I had the wonderful opportunity to spend years rattling around in the cosy confines of university, a luxury they never had themselves. And they supported me throughout, so I could never have got here without them.
Finally, I must thank the lawyers in this research for granting me access to their professional lives. Though on reading my account, they may rather wish they had not, perhaps even feeling as though I have abused their good faith, I hope they realise that I fully appreciate their grace and generosity. As patronising as it might sound, I only do this because I want to help them reach their full potential as lawyers working for justice. I know that, by and large, they were good people with lofty ambitions that deserve to be realised.