Marcel Berlins (30 October 1941 – 31 July 2019) was a French-born lawyer, legal commentator, author, broadcaster and columnist. He was best known for his work in the United Kingdom, writing for British national newspapers ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', presenting

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's legal programme ''Law in Action'' for 16 years, and teaching Media Law at

City, University of London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" an ...

Biography

Berlins was born in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, France, on 30 October 1941, the only child of Jacques Berlins and his wife, Pearl. Of Latvian-Jewish heritage, they had moved to France to open a hotel. When the country was occupied by the Nazis in 1940, Jacques became active in the Resistance; the family moved to a village near

Luberon The Luberon ( or ; Provençal dialect, Provençal: ''Leberon'' or ''Leberoun'' ) is a massif in central Provence in Southern France, part of the French Prealps. It has a maximum elevation of and an area of about . It is composed of three mounta ...

. In 1951, the family moved to South Africa. There Berlins learnt English, reputedly in part through reading the works of

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

. He remained a French citizen, however, and voted in the

2007 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 21 and 22 April 2007 to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France (and ''ex officio'' Co-Prince of Andorra) for a five-year term. As no candidate received a majority of the vot ...

.Marcel Berlins biography
''

'' Berlins studied law at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

and spent his early career in the courts in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. The worsening political situation in South Africa saw Berlins move firstly to Paris, and then to London to avoid French military service. In London he studied for his masters degree at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. He was a legal assistant in the UK Lord Chancellor's Department from 1969 to 1971. Berlins wrote a weekly column for ''

'', and regularly reviewed

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

for ''

''. He began presenting

's legal affairs programme ''Law in Action'' in 1988, and won two awards for Legal Broadcaster of the Year, before retiring from the programme in 2004. He was a contestant for the South of England team in the 2007 series of Radio 4's '' Round Britain Quiz'' and continued in the series until 2014. He devised and presented, for

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

, the first television drama-documentary to feature real lawyers and judges doing their job and created and edited the award-winning publication ''The Law Magazine''. Berlins was a visiting professor at

, in the Department of Journalism.''About Law in Action''
BBC website, retrieved 26 August 2009 He taught Media Law to students on the Postgraduate Diplomas in Broadcast Journalism, Magazine Journalism, Newspaper Journalism and Television Current Affairs Journalism, as well as the BA in Journalism and a Social Science. Berlins was played piano throughout his life, including stints at a club in

Lourenço Marques Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

in Mozambique, and at the public piano in

St Pancras railway station St Pancras railway station (), officially known since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a major central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is the terminus for Eurostar services from Belgium, F ...

. In one of his last articles for ''The Guardian'', Berlins wrote of the impact on him of

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

’s portrayal of

Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the 19th century for high-profile representations of trade union causes, and in the 20th century for several criminal matters, including the ...

, the American lawyer who defended two high-profile murderers facing the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

in 1924, which had inspired his interest in justice and the law.

Personal life

In 2005, Berlins married Lisa Forrell, a lawyer and theatre director. Their jointly-authored play, ''Best of Motives'' (2002), considered the unintended impact of anti-terrorism legislation, passed after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. They had homes in Paris, London and

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

Death

Berlins died on 31 July 2019, following a brain haemorrhage. Dr Paul Lashmar of the Department of Journalism at City, University of London, said: "Marcel really was a brilliant commentator on the law. He made it accessible to the ordinary reader. And what’s more, he did so with a sense of humanity. His wonderful writing will be missed." Berlins is survived by his widow and a stepson and a stepdaughter.

Books

* ''Caught in the Act'' (1974), (with Geoffrey Wansell), a study of young offenders and their treatment * ''Ramesh Maharaj, Barrister Behind Bars'' (1979), the true story of a

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

ian lawyer’s detention * ''Living Together'' (1982), (with Clare Dyer), on the legal pitfalls of

cohabitation Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a Romance (love), romantic or Sexual intercourse, sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. ...

* ''The Law Machine'' (1982), (with Clare Dyer), the evolution of the justice system evolved and how it operates * ''The Law and You'' (1986), for the Consumers’ Association, examining aspects of consumer law

Plays

* ''Best of Motives'' (2002), (with Lisa Forrell), about antiterrorism laws after the September 11 attacks

References

External links

Marcel Berlins' columns
at ''The Guardian''
"Marcel Berlins introduces The 50 Greatest Crime Writers list"
at ''

'', 23 December 2008
"Marcel Berlins reviews the latest crime fiction "
''

'', 16 October 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Berlins, Marcel 1941 births 2019 deaths Academics of City, University of London Alumni of the London School of Economics French emigrants to England British columnists Mass media people from Marseille French emigrants to South Africa French people of Latvian-Jewish descent University of the Witwatersrand alumni