My father is a taxi driver, and my mother ran a small business. I hadn't even met a barrister before I got my first shot at the legal profession. But back then, I was lucky enough to be given a break - I can't help but wonder if I would be so lucky today.
Robert Rinder
I can smell a liar like a fart in a lift!
If a person is seriously injured as a result of someone else's negligence, then they are entitled to compensation.
Verbal contracts are about as useful as a fart on a treadmill.
I'm not pretending when I'm in that court room.
I propose that matchmaking should be approached like a corporate business venture. It can be risky, but I have discovered that the potential profits from acquisitions and mergers cannot be underestimated.
Fitness is really important for my mental and emotional equilibrium as well as my physical wellbeing.
I dread my trial at the pearly gates - knowing my luck, I'll be hot on the heels of a blameless nun who will be ushered straight to a luscious cloud with prime sea views.
If every person charged with a crime was allowed to claim money from the authorities when their case was dropped, our police would end up spending all their time defending claims for compensation.
I'm very much into Barry's Boot Camp... it's the real deal.
We need to be able to turn to our immediate circle to ascertain whether our internal checks and balances are functional and to be able to rely on them to point out gross errors.
Above all else, look around to employ the best talent you possibly can.
The only thing I knew would make my grandmother more proud than watching my TV courtroom was to see me dressed up in white tie doing the foxtrot.
My sexuality, in terms of 'Strictly' or whatever else I do in my life, ought to be as irrelevant as the length of my big toe.
Discounting the ineffably repetitive homophobic barbs that I receive most days, Twitter trolls' most common gripe against me appears to be that I am 'posh.' Contrary to their unshakeable view, I was not born into the upstairs world.
I didn't get into fitness until my late twenties. I had put on a lot of weight; I was quite chubby and feeling really depressed. But exercise helped everything - the body and the mind.
I realise I'm known for doing big, very serious cases, but fundamentally, any lawyer will tell you that even the most complex trials come down to the same questions. Are people telling porky pies? Are bank accounts dodgy? Is someone trying to get one over on you? It's my job to listen and then decide.
No matter how excluded you have become from Christmas, it is a genuinely inclusive matter; frankly, you are conscripted into it.
I am unashamed to say that I have a super-crush on Kate Oates, the series producer of 'Coronation Street.'
No sane person enjoys paying tax... money, after all, is a very nice thing to have. But it's the price we all pay for so many vital things in this country - and those of us lucky enough to have a bit more should be proud to be paying a little bit more as well.
I celebrate Christmas with wilful glee.
I was in the National Youth Theatre, too, but there was no dancing there. I was doing plays like 'Julius Caesar' and playing the lute very badly.
I used to deal with high-profile criminal cases that were covered extensively in the media, and one of the things I quickly appreciated was there was a gulf between what really took place in the middle of a case, the impact on victims, the effect on the police and how they solved crimes, and the way it was reported.
I really worry about the way in which you, as a celebrity, are disproportionately treated. Frankly, the industry is almost single-handedly designed to interfere with people's moral chemistry.
If you are concerned you are the victim of illegal corporate surveillance, you should seek specialist - and independent - legal advice at once.
There's something fundamentally grubby about the rich paying people to seek out cracks in the system to hide their money.
As efficiently as our phones connect us to one another, and as much as we take advantage of that, we must remember that they have the power to alienate us, too.
I hope I'm always appropriate on 'JR' if it's a serious case. But if you have a case of a man who has a wardrobe malfunction with a lime green mankini, even I on the odd occasion find it mildly amusing.
The law is the law whether you're dealing with a multi-million-pound fraud or a car deal where someone feels diddled because their exhaust falls off on the way home.
I don't want to be a total moron and be just known as the jazz-handed judge.
I really want to emphasise this - 'Strictly' is a positive show. It's interesting that it gets cast into this, understandably, the ordinary net of reality shows, but there's no part of it which feels nihilistic or unpleasant. It's all about learning something and doing well, and you feel this overwhelming sense of people wanting you to do well.
If a deal advertised on an unknown website looks too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
You can separate the church and state all you like, but Christmas is inescapable, and it's marvellous, and it's not going away.
My musical taste is somewhat dated - I mean, freeze frame, go back 60 years, and you're in my comfort zone.
One of the happy consequences of my brain is that I rarely sleep.
Youthful beauty is a poor indicator of long-term appeal in a man.
When I first heard Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way,' I looked out the window for the car alarm going off.
Never trust people; always trust paper. I'd marry a piece of paper if I could.
There is a balance between mindful that you don't upset anyone, yet maintaining an authenticity that is not wrapped up in the minutiae of people's judgments of you.
It is difficult to ever think about your loved one having suffered.
If you are a politician who styles yourself as a model of family virtue but are having a secret affair, you have no right to expect it to remain secret.
Great broadcasting requires all of us, those who are in positions of power and especially those who are in positions to employ people, to remember you need to look towards the greatest conceivable palate to create greatness.
I think with 'Strictly,' people don't want you to do badly. They're willing you to do well.
I was an appalling person to teach. At 14, I was pretty advanced. I would read all the books in a few minutes, and I was bored. It must have been awful for a teacher to have a bright boy who's giving them his undivided indifference.
I'm not as conscious as I should be about my diet and eating a healthy balance of fruit and vegetables because I do so much exercise. However, I love good grilled fish and Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern salads.
I think I'm incredibly stoic. If I have a bad headache, it takes a while before I reach for a tablet.
I find it amusing when you look at plastic surgeons because they don't seem to have had anything done.
I loathe people who are disingenuous or inauthentic.
I respond well to terribly beautiful, terribly brilliant Russian women.
I like people to be authentic, thoughtful, and honest.
