Some of us have never entered a courtroom; this, for many, is considered to be a good thing. However for the aspiring barrister, it seems a little silly to decide to pursue a career at the Bar having never entered the place where much of your career will pan out. The obvious danger here is that one might have what is, unfortunately, a common misconception of what a day in court entails. This common misconception usually has the characters that you would expect: judge, jury, defendant, witnesses, clerks etc. In this particular misconception the defendant, upon assuming the stand, begins to give his account in the elevated medium of popular song. Suddenly the jury, overcome with what appears to be a surprising amount of glee for a bleak looking crown court, begins to sing and freestyle dance; the witnesses, too, sing along and even the judge is taken by the occasion. A rising string section accompanies the brittle tenor of the 'gritty' looking defendant who, it turns out, is known by the name of 'Plan B' and is in court, presumably, for crimes against soul, pop, the misrepresentation of a Crown Court, and, in that misrepresentation, his creation of a whole generation of would-be lawyers who think that the most important thing one needs for a successful career is a handful of bad rhymes and a basic sense of rhythm.
Though, forgive me, I am told by people 'in the know' that Plan B's ballad 'She Said' and his accompanying video is a searing exploration of the degeneration of the heterosexual ideal.
But there is some method in this madness: embarking on legal studies is not sensible if you have not had a previous foray into musical theatre, sorry, court. One can have, thanks to any number of sources, an incorrect impression of what court entails. Thankfully, first hand experience of court is perfectly possible without having to go about finding a mini-pupillage. Courts are open to the public and you can sit in on trials and see for yourself.
You can, technically, sit in on cases the House of Lords, Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice and County Courts and watch; but doing so is tricky. Cases will often be closed to the public and you must be organised and check the relevant websites for information. The Magistrates' and Crown Courts are much simpler; in fact, all you have to do is turn up.
It doesn't matter, as Jagger would say, what clothes you wear, just as long as you are there. Unlike mini-pupillage there is no need for formal dress. Although, perhaps, your PVC catsuit would not be appropriate. Once inside you will be greeted by a friendly, or not so friendly, person in a security uniform who will ask you to place your bag and anything metal that might set an alarm off on a table. There will then be an embarrassing moment when the security person looks inside your bag. They then, providing you haven't tried to smuggle in a video camera and tripod (no recording equipment allowed), will ask you to walk through a detector. Once through, you will be directed to the usher at reception where you will say soemthing along the lines of 'I am a student and want to watch a case'. You are then pointed towards the appropriate court.
It is that easy.
You can then mention that you have gone to the trouble of nosing around, I mean seeing, the inside of a courtroom in law school/university applications, mini-pupillage applications, and at interviews.
You will also have some idea of whether a career at the Bar is for you.
But you will also, and most importantly, draw the conclusion that successful advocacy does not depend on a aptitude for doggerel, nor for the elevated couplets that our gritty troubadour, Plan B, is so skilled in.
Thursday 23 September 2010
Thursday 9 September 2010
Putting Yourself About: Law Fairs and Mini-pupillages
These are wonderful events at universities that happen in the Autumn term. Law firms pitch up at your university for the day with a stall and enough pens to keep you out of W. H. Smith for life. There are many varieties of pens on offer from ball points to fountain pens to highlighters to rainbow highlighters (these are many different coloured highlighters in one pen) and then a plethora of other indispensible items such as alarm clocks to small diaries to mugs. The other indispensible items to be found at the law fair are two usually expensive, but a law fairs free, publications: Chambers Student Guide and the Pupillage Handbook. Pick up both, even though they will put your back out. Each contains invaluable advice for all elements of your path to the Bar.
But apart from the stationary, and an alarm clock whose mechanism you never be able to fathom, there are people, real live people, working in the law who can offer you advice and if you are very lucky, or pushy, work experience. So do make the effort to talk to everybody you can there: you never know what will come of it.
Of course work experience for aspiring barristers isn't called work experience but, instead, mini-pupillage. Mini-pupillage is when you spend a couple of days to a week in a barrister's chambers. You will sit on in conferences, go to court, read skeleton arguments and perhaps, if you are again very lucky, get taken for a coffee.
Word of advice now. The night before you begin mini-pupillage go for a walk and make sure you know how to get there. There is nothing as embarrassing as being late on your very first day. Wear a dark suit. Chambers' websites do normally dictate a dress code for mini-pupils but that dress code doesn't normally deviate from a dark, sober suit. Also wear comfortable shoes. On my first mini-pupillage I spent a significant amount of time ducking in and out of toilets putting plasters on my bleeding, blistered feet. If anything can be gained from my misfortune, it is that you and your feet can be spared it.
On the morning that you arrive you will be directed to the clerks. Clerks are very important. They are not receptionist. They are not diary handlers. They are not tea ladies. They are the men and women in whose hands your early career rests. They can make your career by ensuring that work comes your way. Do be nice to them.
The clerks will tell you who you will be with that day. It is rare that you will be with one barrister for an entire day, let alone for your entire mini-pupillage. You will be shunted from tenant to tenant and, as I found on one mini-pupillage, from court to court.
On this particular mini-pupillage my A-Z was invaluable: I would never have made any court sittings without it. Even with it, I still had to ask every body from school children to the person next to me on the tube (yes I broke the unspoken rule of silence on the tube) where whichever County Court was. Buy an A-Z. And always leave as much time as you can to get from one place to the next.
Conferences are tricky. Conferences are where a barrister will meet either in person or talk on the phone with clients or other legal professionals. During a telephone conference shut up. During a conference-conference, either video or in person, acknowledge those attending either with a handshake or smile. Whilst you do not want to try and start running the show, neither do you want to be seen as socially inept or, worse, just plain rude. Don't start offering advice during the conference: your opinion is totally irrelevant not to mention, I imagine, totally uninformed. Remember even though you aren't affiliated with the chambers you are, for your time with them, to a certain extent, representing them. One of the aspects of conferences that I enjoyed most was the biscuits; although the quality of these differs from chambers to chambers.
Take notes- though not during the conferences. Chambers will ask you at the beginning of your mini to sign a confidentiality agreement so I really don't think that clients will appreciate an upstart in a suit noting down the intricacies of their private matters. make a couple of notes afterwards (that don't mention names) so you can talk about what you learnt during your mini at pupillage and scholarship interviews.
At the end of your mini-pupillage say thank you to those very important people I mentioned. What do you mean "who?" The clerks.
Then leave and take yourself and your blistered feet back to your hotel room or friend's back room and pass out, exhausted, at 6pm in the evening.
.
But apart from the stationary, and an alarm clock whose mechanism you never be able to fathom, there are people, real live people, working in the law who can offer you advice and if you are very lucky, or pushy, work experience. So do make the effort to talk to everybody you can there: you never know what will come of it.
Of course work experience for aspiring barristers isn't called work experience but, instead, mini-pupillage. Mini-pupillage is when you spend a couple of days to a week in a barrister's chambers. You will sit on in conferences, go to court, read skeleton arguments and perhaps, if you are again very lucky, get taken for a coffee.
Word of advice now. The night before you begin mini-pupillage go for a walk and make sure you know how to get there. There is nothing as embarrassing as being late on your very first day. Wear a dark suit. Chambers' websites do normally dictate a dress code for mini-pupils but that dress code doesn't normally deviate from a dark, sober suit. Also wear comfortable shoes. On my first mini-pupillage I spent a significant amount of time ducking in and out of toilets putting plasters on my bleeding, blistered feet. If anything can be gained from my misfortune, it is that you and your feet can be spared it.
On the morning that you arrive you will be directed to the clerks. Clerks are very important. They are not receptionist. They are not diary handlers. They are not tea ladies. They are the men and women in whose hands your early career rests. They can make your career by ensuring that work comes your way. Do be nice to them.
The clerks will tell you who you will be with that day. It is rare that you will be with one barrister for an entire day, let alone for your entire mini-pupillage. You will be shunted from tenant to tenant and, as I found on one mini-pupillage, from court to court.
On this particular mini-pupillage my A-Z was invaluable: I would never have made any court sittings without it. Even with it, I still had to ask every body from school children to the person next to me on the tube (yes I broke the unspoken rule of silence on the tube) where whichever County Court was. Buy an A-Z. And always leave as much time as you can to get from one place to the next.
Conferences are tricky. Conferences are where a barrister will meet either in person or talk on the phone with clients or other legal professionals. During a telephone conference shut up. During a conference-conference, either video or in person, acknowledge those attending either with a handshake or smile. Whilst you do not want to try and start running the show, neither do you want to be seen as socially inept or, worse, just plain rude. Don't start offering advice during the conference: your opinion is totally irrelevant not to mention, I imagine, totally uninformed. Remember even though you aren't affiliated with the chambers you are, for your time with them, to a certain extent, representing them. One of the aspects of conferences that I enjoyed most was the biscuits; although the quality of these differs from chambers to chambers.
Take notes- though not during the conferences. Chambers will ask you at the beginning of your mini to sign a confidentiality agreement so I really don't think that clients will appreciate an upstart in a suit noting down the intricacies of their private matters. make a couple of notes afterwards (that don't mention names) so you can talk about what you learnt during your mini at pupillage and scholarship interviews.
At the end of your mini-pupillage say thank you to those very important people I mentioned. What do you mean "who?" The clerks.
Then leave and take yourself and your blistered feet back to your hotel room or friend's back room and pass out, exhausted, at 6pm in the evening.
.
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Getting In with the Inn: The Scholarship Interview
Unfortunately the Inns don't make their scholarship awards based on an applicant's ability to make bad puns; otherwise I would have been, as the kids say, "well in". Instead, the four Inns of Court (Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn) make their awards based on how good a barrister you will become and then tend to think about how much money you need. It's worth noting that the Inns use the same criteria in evaluating applicants; however, there is some differences between the Inns in the attention that they pay to your financial circumstances: the Inner and Middle Temples seem to have a reputation for considering financial circumstances as well as merit. Apart from that, in terms of facilities and purpose, the Inns are practicaly the same and it makes no difference which one you apply to for a scholarship or join.
Boringly practical advice now: look at deadlines. They tend to be, for the GDL, in the April of the year that you will begin the GDL and, for the BPTC, November of the year before beginning the BPTC. Each Inn's application procedure differs slightly so do read their intructions; although their aim is the same: to ensure that there is no bar to the Bar and everyone who can make it, does. Also don't be afraid to bang referees on the head to send off references: if your referees fail to provide references by the Inn's deadline then it is you, and not your lazy referees, that suffer.
I personally found that a punctual call on the hour every hour did the job.
Inns of Court Scholarship Interview
I am, I'll have you know, well placed to talk about this. The result of my interview was that I walked away with a very generous sum (several thousand pounds worth of generosity). But that isn't to say that I walked away from the interview knowing that I'd secured a scholarship. In fact, I was convinced I hadn't. Whilst I knew that I'd done the best that I could, I didn't think that my best would be good enough. The lesson in that is that it is impossible to tell which way the interview went and don't be disheartened if you come out fearing the worst.
The interview was pleasant enough. And the interviewers, too, very pleasant. The panel of four interviewers was made up of practising barristers who gave me a reassuring preamble (don't be nervous, we won't grill you, if you don't secure a scholarship today then it isn't a reflection on you as competition is fierce....) and then the questions one would expect: for instance, 'why do you want to be a barrister?' Whilst I know that people warn against prepared answers, do prepare an answer for this question: I imagine there is nothing as offputting to an interview panel than a sweating fool in a suit who can't provide a reason as to why exactly they are sitting in the seat, sweating in a suit, looking for a scholarship.
The interview can then take a turn for the slightly less pleasant.
I stumbled on a question and then was pulled swiftly up on it. That happened twice. But I suppose that's what the interview panel has to make sure you can withstand: being questioned, corrected and pulled up without being put down or put off. Be prepared for these difficult questions and, if you can, smile. Don't be afraid to pause to think. If you don't understand a question ask for it to be repeated. Even if you do understand the question and want a little more time to think, ask for it to be repeated.
There aren't any specific legal questions if you are applying for a GDL award, only questions about something that you ought to know enough about to get by: you.
And that is it. Fifteen minutes gone like that.
Boringly practical advice now: look at deadlines. They tend to be, for the GDL, in the April of the year that you will begin the GDL and, for the BPTC, November of the year before beginning the BPTC. Each Inn's application procedure differs slightly so do read their intructions; although their aim is the same: to ensure that there is no bar to the Bar and everyone who can make it, does. Also don't be afraid to bang referees on the head to send off references: if your referees fail to provide references by the Inn's deadline then it is you, and not your lazy referees, that suffer.
I personally found that a punctual call on the hour every hour did the job.
Inns of Court Scholarship Interview
I am, I'll have you know, well placed to talk about this. The result of my interview was that I walked away with a very generous sum (several thousand pounds worth of generosity). But that isn't to say that I walked away from the interview knowing that I'd secured a scholarship. In fact, I was convinced I hadn't. Whilst I knew that I'd done the best that I could, I didn't think that my best would be good enough. The lesson in that is that it is impossible to tell which way the interview went and don't be disheartened if you come out fearing the worst.
The interview was pleasant enough. And the interviewers, too, very pleasant. The panel of four interviewers was made up of practising barristers who gave me a reassuring preamble (don't be nervous, we won't grill you, if you don't secure a scholarship today then it isn't a reflection on you as competition is fierce....) and then the questions one would expect: for instance, 'why do you want to be a barrister?' Whilst I know that people warn against prepared answers, do prepare an answer for this question: I imagine there is nothing as offputting to an interview panel than a sweating fool in a suit who can't provide a reason as to why exactly they are sitting in the seat, sweating in a suit, looking for a scholarship.
The interview can then take a turn for the slightly less pleasant.
I stumbled on a question and then was pulled swiftly up on it. That happened twice. But I suppose that's what the interview panel has to make sure you can withstand: being questioned, corrected and pulled up without being put down or put off. Be prepared for these difficult questions and, if you can, smile. Don't be afraid to pause to think. If you don't understand a question ask for it to be repeated. Even if you do understand the question and want a little more time to think, ask for it to be repeated.
There aren't any specific legal questions if you are applying for a GDL award, only questions about something that you ought to know enough about to get by: you.
And that is it. Fifteen minutes gone like that.
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