Tuesday 20 October 2009

Plenty of Room for Improvement

Bit of a turn up for the books really. BVC is never predictable and that rule was pretty much demonstrated last weekend.

Having had my first stab at examination-in-chief and cross-examination, it would appear that I am at present equally crap in both of the required arts. Tutor's blood pressure was dangerously high as he attempted to hammer home gently guide me through the subtle process of controlling the witness and getting from them what you want. The dvd of my performance is worthy of an Oscar nomination, not least for the petulant look on my face whilst being screamed at told "NO, NO, NO, HOW MANY MORE TIMES TO I HAVE TO TELL YOU...?".    Answers on a postcard please:-)

Hearsay was a shambles and it is definitely a subject that I have got to revisit (yet again) at some point before the MCT, otherwise I shall be very lucky to pass.

Negotiation was a turn up for the books and I did well, despite this being my most feared subject to date.

Drafting was informative, but also a little daunting. Civil was, as expected, civilised.

Today I'm having a look over my mock exam paper for Opinion Writing. Mmm it's going to be very tricky to do and will require plenty of preparation and planning, which tbh aren't exactly favourite pastimes of mine, as I much prefer to wade in feet first.

So, it would appear that I shall be a criminal barrister who can do bail applications, submissions of no case to answer, pleas in mitigation, but cannot examine any witnesses or do any cases in which hearsay crops up.

Apart from that, everything is going exactly to plan!

Onwards and upwards eh:-)


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey,

You know what i actually think you need to have a break. Sometimes you need to see the big picture and the best way to do that is to take a step back. I think that you're putting too much pressure on yourself.

But i might add that after reading your posts i get discouraged from even attempting to make an application for the BVC - i dont know if thats a good thing or not:)

take care

milly

Barmaid said...

Milly - don't be put off by my moaning and groaning about BVC, it's not that bad, more confusing than awful.

Workload is pretty intense at BPP, but I don't think my blog would be worth reading if all that I banged on about was what a brilliant person/scholar I am and what a breeze BVC is - of course I would also be lying through my teeth.

If the Bar is your dream, go for it.

Lost said...

Will email you my notes on Hearsay :)
AHAHA oh word verification is Renda... have you started learning about Bad Character yet??

Barmaid said...

Lost - Bad Character did crop up last year in Conference, but not in any great detail. I'm not sure whether we visit it again this year, but suspect that we will.

I have ordered a book, which another student recommended and which apparently is very good at explaining hearsay. Let's hope so:-)