Looking for a fantasy novel featuring a "duelist lawyer"

[Bloodynine]

Greetings,

So, I'm looking for this fantasy novel which I started reading in a library on a rainy saturday morning a couple years ago. Since I can't remember neither author nor title, I've tried googling keywords from what I recall about the story. Unsucessfully. Meanwhile I'm a bit desperate, so any hint would be really great.

I remember the protagonist being a lawyer in a city where trials are conducted by duel. Advocate and plaintiff hire duelists who then fight to determine the legitimacy of their employer's cases. The whole process is a bit reminiscent of early medieval ordeal by battle. The protagonist is an ageing duelist, a bit rusty but still with quite a few tricks up his sleeves. Another subplot I remember involves a young warrior from another culture infiltrating that city society in order to determine military capability of the city.

That's all I remember. I think the book also is the first book in a larger saga... or maybe a trilogy. Thanks in advance

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

K. J. Parker, Colours in the Steel, Volume One of "The Fencer Trilogy."

Unless I am much mistaken.

 

[Culhwch]

Yep, that's the one I'd say.

 

[Bloodynine]

Thanks a lot again! Just ordered the first book. I hope it's as good as the first ~50 pages suggested.