Life Between Paragraphs

“A gentleman of the British mould with a life story that would be enough for several lifetimes for others.” This quote from the book *Nestoři české advokacie* (The Nestors of Czech Advocacy) aptly captures the personality of Gerhardt Bubník, and it is a good thing that this exceptional man decided to write down his memories and share them with others.

“When I read in Lidové noviny about the lynching of Germans, I realised that I had witnessed something like that myself. Perhaps it might also interest the readers,” Gerhardt Bubník wrote to the editor Magdalena Sodomková in 2015. Their meeting and long conversations gave rise to the idea of publishing an autobiography, which they eventually brought to fruition through mutual collaboration.

The result is a book of memoirs titled *Život mezi paragrafy* (Life Between the Paragraphs). In it, Gerhardt Bubník talks about his childhood, his student days (he was the first person from what was then Czechoslovakia to study law at Harvard), his career as a figure skater and later an international judge, his work as a lawyer and arbitrator, his fight against doping, and his encounters with exceptional personalities. The captivating narrative is complemented by a series of unique photographs and period materials.