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A Lawyer's Story (2004)

Paul Bovens had often been threatened and was regularly escorted to court by the police and a bomb disposal unit. But on 31 May 2001, it was for real and a powerful explosive charge destroyed the stately office mansion in Utrecht of the "terrier among criminal lawyers". Three months later, his name was in the newspapers again: Bovens no longer wanted to be part of "this circus" and withdrew from the law business.

The bomb had set Bovens thinking. The fact that the well known lawyer decided to end his career at the age of 44 was not only because of the attack: "Irritation at colleagues who don't take their work seriously was also a contributory factor," says the ever zealous lawyer (Trouw, 3 September 2001).

Film maker Jeroen Berkvens shows us the ex-lawyer looking back on his turbulent career in the peace of his own home. In his career he did everything for his client and was merciless towards the experience of the victims. Now roles have been reversed: the lawyer is the victim and the damage is not only material. We see how Paul Bovens tries to pick up his life and what impact the bomb attack had on it.

A Lawyer's Story is a co-production of Selfmade Films and the Humanist Broadcasting Foundation. This film was made with support of the Film Fund of the Netherlands and the Dutch Cultural Broadcasting Fund

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