People’s careers often are not what other people imagine. The stereotypical image of a top lawyer is of a king cobra – cold, calculating, coiled to strike. Which is not how William Clegg comes across in Under the Wig: A Lawyer’s Stories of Murder, Guilt and Innocence (Quercus, £8.99; Tablet price £8.09). Clegg has handled the defence in many of the grisliest murders in recent history, from Colin Stagg, accused of killing Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common, to George Barry, accused of killing TV star Jill Dando.