This book is a must-read guide for students thinking of studying law and, indeed, for anyone interested in the law. Author Chris Stoakes - known for his ability to make complex subjects simple - approaches the law in a new and compelling way, explaining the basic legal principles but marrying them up with the practice of law, explaining the different areas of specialisation, types of law firm, how they are organised and what it is like being a lawyer. Throughout, he draws on his unique career in and around the law, as a City solicitor, a partner in a law firm, a legal journalist and editor, a law teacher, a tutor on an MBA for lawyers and a management consultant who has advised law firms and in-house legal departments.

Law is one of the most important but impenetrable subjects. It affects us all. It protects us from crime. It provides us with consumer rights. It tells us what happens to our property if we get divorced and when we die. So, of course, it's going to be complex. And expensive when you need advice. But wouldn't you like to know a bit about it? So that you don't feel quite so stupid when faced with a legal issue or legal language? Maybe you'd like to be a lawyer. But will you like it? Before you sign up to do a law degree, wouldn't it be helpful to know a little bit about it? Because - and this is typical of law - universities don't like you to have done any before you do law with them. So you can't find out beforehand. Maybe you would have liked to have been a lawyer but never had the chance. You can still learn about it now. Maybe you'd like to be able to get better value from your lawyer when you next talk to him or her because you'll have a better grasp of the terminology they use, so you'll understand more and it will take less time - which may even reduce the size of your legal bill. Wouldn't that be nice? If any of these questions resonate with you, you're in the right place. This book tells you what the law is and why.

Chris Stoakes is the noted author of best-selling books on the City, the global financial markets and commercial awareness, all published by Longtail in the All You Need To Know series. He has been the editor of several magazines in the fields of finance, business, law and tax. He has been by-lined in most of the quality national newspapers writing on subjects ranging from jukeboxes and collecting records to notaries and lawyers in Asia. And he has written features for over thirty professional and business publications.

But poetry is Stoakes's true calling. He won his first poetry prize when he was fourteen and his most recent over thirty years later. In between his poems have appeared in magazines and chap books. It's been said of his poetry that, 'Stoakes...looks at the quotidian and infuses it with spiritual significance. He] challenges readers to find meaning in ordinary, everyday moments and demands that we learn to recognise and cherish them.'

Selected Poems 1970-2010 brings together for the first time in one volume poems representative of the full range of his life as a poet. M/p>