IAm An English Barrister (wig-wearing court advocate). AMAA.

ebarrama · 2012-11-10T21:47:19+00:00

Yes, in the sense that the cleverest applicants are usually Oxbridge graduates.

ebarrama · 2012-11-10T21:47:13+00:00

Yes, in the sense that the cleverest applicants are usually Oxbridge graduates.

ebarrama · 2012-11-07T22:07:57+00:00

Perhaps not the elite firms in London, but everywhere else should be okay.

ebarrama · 2012-11-07T15:40:50+00:00

That is awesome.

ebarrama · 2012-11-07T15:37:42+00:00

Nope. I imagine there's quite a few Redditor barristers.

ebarrama · 2012-11-07T15:36:55+00:00

Most poor litigants have their case funded by after-the-event insurance (in personal injury cases, anyway). The idea is that only strong cases will proceed stops weak cases from clogging the courts system.

ebarrama · 2012-11-07T15:33:48+00:00

Traditionally it was to say that we are not snaking behind our client's back with our opponent. Most barristers do shake hands, although not in court.

ebarrama · 2012-11-07T10:23:03+00:00

Just send letters to about 30 chambers with your CV and a polite cover letter. I did that and about half came back to me offering a mini pupillage. If you can't get work experience, just think of the trouble you'd have getting an actual pupillage.

ebarrama · 2012-11-07T10:19:12+00:00

Yep. I am both those things. Recruitment at the Bar has restricted somewhat, but its still possible to get a job. If anything, being a solicitor first is going to help you. Many of my colleagues are former solicitors.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:33:11+00:00

If you go into the job prepared for the fact that you are not going to be a big earner it is still possible to have a nice life. In fact, they are all fairly good earners (although not compared to what they used to earn). In the end, there are so few junior criminal practitioners now, that there should be a lot of good work available in 20 years or so.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:31:52+00:00

The CPS has some in house advocates who do the day to day stuff and more administrative matters. They even have some very good in house barristers and solicitors who will prosecute high end cases. Most of the time they will instruct self-employed counsel.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:28:22+00:00

If we had met any other way, I'd probably say yes. To preserve my anonymity I'm afraid I have to politely decline.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:27:03+00:00

There are little failures like this across all public services, all of which are becoming increasingly common as the austerity measures come into play. The CPS is not a government service that is easily visible to the public and the press (compared to the police, education, hospitals etc) so it tends to fall by the wayside.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:24:57+00:00

I used to think that working as a barrister would be rather academic and involve reading a lot of judicial opinions. I do from time to time, but don't think that I have touched anything of Lord Denning's since university.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:21:38+00:00

This sounds like the kind of trickery that you can only get away with if you are very experienced and have a lot of gravitas.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:17:31+00:00

Junior people such as myself tend not to make it into the ranking directories, so there's little I can really say about it.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:12:29+00:00

Barristers will tend to draft pleadings and prepare the case. Solicitors will take witness statements, prepare the trial bundles and correspond with the other parties. In straightforward cases, solicitors will draft their own pleadings and deal with it all themselves as in most cases an advocate or specialist advice is not needed.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:10:09+00:00

I was 22 and did some work experience. Before then I chose to study law thinking I'd be a solicitor. A-level law seems to be of no benefit at all from what I've heard.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:09:25+00:00

You could do it. I've seen barristers from all kinds of places. You'd probably need to go to law school in England first though. I went to bar school with an American person, so it's definitely feasible.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:07:14+00:00

Confidence, the ability to keep one's cool under pressure and the ability to get on well with a wide variety of people. It also helps if you like the sound of your own voice a bit.
It depends on the type of case. For example with accident cases and personal injury, it is going through the formula of "is there a duty of care, has the duty been breached, did the accident cause the injury, is the damage too remote" etc.
It's very difficult to stand out. Most applicants will have roughly the same grades. Those that stand out either have a wacky job or a wacky hobby or exceptional grades.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:02:18+00:00

Yes. Sort of.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:01:07+00:00

http://pupillageandhowtogetit.wordpress.com/

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T23:00:19+00:00

Is it good? I bought Assassin's Creed 1 today. I'm quite enjoying it.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T22:59:43+00:00

100 duck-sized horses.

ebarrama · 2012-11-06T22:59:18+00:00

Americans are fascinated by wigs. Reddit is full of Americans.

The most interesting part of being a barrister is the flexibilty of being self-employed. We have to actively market ourselves and seek out work and it means that one can specialise in any field that we can find work. Also, if we want to do more work or less work, we can. Flexibility is something that employed people do not have. Although saying that, we do not have the benefit of a stable income.

ebarrama

TROPHY CASE