Book excerpt: In 1993 the Queen's Counsel cartoon strip first appeared in the law pages of The Times. The authors were Alex Williams and Graham Defries, two young lawyers determined to make fun of the legal profession even as they attempted to climb its greasy pole. The strip soon settled on a handful of key characters: Sir Geoffrey Bentwood QC, Head of Chambers at 4 Lawn Buildings, a study in pomposity and all-round Master of the Legal Universe; Richard Loophole, ambulance chaser and senior partner at Filibuster and Loophole; and Rachel Underwood, oppressed associate who never quite makes partner no matter how good her work is. The strip has been published continuously in The Times ever since. Collected here for the first time is the author's personal selection of the very best cartoons over the past 20 years, showing that, despite all the changes in the legal profession in over two decades - nothing much has really changed. These cartoons show Britain's best-loved legal cartoon satire maturing into ripe middle-age; good-natured, funny, and a bit flabby around the middle.