I saw a particularly splendid one where he gamely tried his best to persevere with a bloke who was clearly absolutely pissed out of his skull, wish I could find it. It was a beautiful piece of work.
I wonder if somebody took him to one side before he signed and warned him that if he went there he was pretty much guaranteed to become irrevocably shit, but he thought he could beat the curse
No indeed, but solicitors generally need barristers when they're dealing with Crown/County courts and higher because they usually don't have rights of audience with judges