In the Beginning

I am not middle class, from Oxbridge or moneyed or from a family of legal practitioners. What I am, however, is fairly bright, persevering and bent on pursuing a career at the Bar of England and Wales. And what this blog is, is exactly that: a blog of my experiences as I pursue the kind of career that has eluded my family and most that come from my kind of background. Because, regardless of what anybody tells you, stereotypes and misconceptions exist for a reason: they are- although we do what we can to dispel them- to greater and lesser degrees, true. The Bar is still, it appears, dominated by white, middle class, if ageing, men. And the court is still, from my (albeit limited) experience filled with the kind of voices that we'd expect to hear in an Austen novel, all plummy vowels, and a silver spoon protruding from some orifice or other. But all this is sounding a little too Richard Ashcroft working class rant for my liking. There is nothing wrong with being white, middle class, mature or male- just as there is nothing wrong with being black, working class, female or still in a gym slip. What I'm posing is merely a proposition: is gender, class, background still a bar to the Bar? And, even if those things are irrelevant, do I, even then, have what it takes to make it?

What I can promise to make, though, is this blog which will offer practical advice on and experience in  how to- or, rather, how not to- make - or break- the Bar.