About John

John is an experienced criminal defence lawyer who cares about one thing above all: making sure you leave the courtroom with your best result. Whether that's achieved with a fight in court or a negotiation out of it - he doesn't mind.

But three things separate John from the usual suited suspects roaming the corridors of your Local, District, or Supreme Court:

Firstly, he's unafraid to make a joke in Court. In fact, he loves to do it. From the moment he first stepped foot inside one, he understood that Courtrooms are frightening and tense places. He quickly discovered that Judges are humans too, and all it took was a bit of courage, and perhaps a slightly comedic approach to a matter, where appropriate, was all it took for the Judge's shoulders to relax, and for the same to happen for the client he was protecting. He finds that after that, it's always likelier that a Judge will treat his clients with greater empathy.

Secondly, John has a talent for explaining things. The law is complex, and you hear a lot of confusing, fancy, mumbo-jumbo legal-talk in Court. And although John feels that everyone deserves to know what's going on, not everyone has the time and ability to spend night after night reading through page after page of impossible-to-understand legislation. That's why John gave up his natural calling as a teacher, and instead uses a rare talent to explain the very complex in simple terms. He considers it a personal failure if his client is ever left in the dark about any of the legal concepts affecting their life. Instead, he makes sure they leave his office wondering why it was never explained so simply to them before.

Thirdly, John reads and writes fiction. Most lawyers don't do this - they say they don't have time for it, or maybe they don't have an interest. John thinks that's too bad, because he knows the great classic works of fiction - Austen, Dickens, Christie, Poe - give a lot to the modern lawyer to separate him from the others. John believes it's not only his job to say something clearly - but also beautifully and passionately.
And Shakespeare keeps John's tongue sharp.

These qualities arise out of John's commitment toward teaching, toward making Court experiences less scary and more understandable for the non-lawyer, as he believes they should be. To achieve this, he also posts free mini-lessons on Tiktok and Instagram @johnharblawyer.

He also knows Arabic. Isn't that cool?