Revelation

Last Christmas I bought myself a book from Amazon without actually looking at what it was about (I was buying books for everyone else and added one for myself as an afterthought). I just chose the side-bar option for crime/thriller and picked the book with a high reader ranking. Imagine my shock when opening the book and reading the words:

'The high chandeliers of Lincoln's Inn were ablaze with candles, for it was late afternoon when the play began. Most members of Lincoln's Inn were present, the barristers in their robes...'

Unfortunately the demands of BVC meant that I didn't get a chance to read the book until earlier this week. It's set in 1543 and tells the story of Matthew Shardlake, a barrister who becomes involved in the hunt for a serial killer. If you are looking for a good book to disappear into, I recommend C.J. Sansom's 'Revelation'.

In a week's time year 1 of BVC will be over, I have the first of 3 Advocacy assessments next week and need to knuckle down and get myself sorted. As far as I'm aware, we have a long wait for the results which aren't released until mid-July, along with the Conference results. All in all it's been a tough year and I suspect next year will be equally, if not more demanding because year 2 contains the bulk of the 12 BVC assessments. The thought of another Civil/Criminal Litigation exam fills me with dread, so much information to try and memorise in such a short space of time. The remaining exams include Negotiation (which we haven't started yet), Drafting, Opinion Writing, 2 more Advocacy, 2 x electives and the aforementioned Civil/Criminal MCT.

Oh well, no-one said it would be easy - well actually they did, they must've been having a laugh.

Easy month - yeh right!

It should have been a fairly easy month this month. Just the Advocacy exam to prepare for and some drafting homework (which I haven't looked at yet), but as ever I have yet again been burning the midnight oil, mostly due to my own fault for having a bright idea a few weeks back when I decided to submit a short written piece into a competition for a moot.

The results for the competition were due out and I heard nothing, so assumed that my paper had been rejected. However, a few days later I received an email saying that I'd been chosen to take part in the moot and sorry for the delay. No problem thought I, a nice little burglary or perhaps a criminal damage or maybe even a simple little negligence appeal, you know the sort, Mr Clumsy fell of a ladder and wants to appeal on the basis that the £70 damages awarded for the slight injury to his ankle did not take account of the massive injury to his pride . Mmm, I should be so lucky, I have spent a week trying to do a whistlestop tour of statutory and common law fraud since Victorian times right up to the present day Fraud Act 2006.

Golly Ghosh and touchy Feely, it's been a busy week and I'm far from certain that I have really got the gist of some of the caselaw that existed prior to Feely. What a subject to try to get to grips with in the space of a few days. Apparently I did study Ghosh during LLB, but it is all a (very) distant memory, so distant in fact that I have no recollection of it at all. I blame it on the Olpasiformia Nervosa, it's been a devil to shake off and I'm still not quite back to my old self.

Roll on June and the Summer break - my brain is full to bursting and my bank balance is empty, apart from that all is well.

Y is for Yokel

Yokel -n (disparaging) - a person who lives in the country, esp. one who appears simple and old fashioned.

What can I say, guilty as charged:-)

Today I should be putting the finishing touches to my skeleton argument, today I have done nothing of any use so far and having taken a look at the skellie, it's not so much a matter of finishing touches, but a complete overhaul that is required. Oh well, I guess somewhere along the line I'll get the hang of them.

Silence! Exam!

Had my Conference exam yesterday and I think it went ok? We had to provide a Conference Plan showing the areas of questioning, advice on plea, venue and sentence, and also a legal analysis. I took my provider's words as gospel and kept the legal analysis short and sweet, but it seems that I was in the minority and everyone did about 10 pages more than me. Oh dear, I think I might have boobed.

I was pleased that I managed to keep my nerves under control during the above exam, that was until today, when they emerged at large and uninvited during Advocacy. I stood at the lectern, opened my mouth and nothing came out (that got the tutor's attention good and proper). By the third attempt "may it please you honour" emerged tiny and quivering and pretty much set the scene for the remainder of my submission. My memory had gone too, couldn't remember who, where, what or why, so I limped my inadequate way through the application, wishing for the ground to open up - it didn't and the whole 12 minutes was pretty painful. Oh well, I have a month until the Advocacy exam to get myself sorted. I blame it on the Olpasiforma Nervosa, must've had a relapse.