As part of the Bar Vocational Course I have to fulfil 4 court visits and write a report on the cases that I see.
Today I went to the beautiful old Crown Court pictured above and those suppressed emotions re-emerged. I want to be a Criminal Barrister.
I know the money is rubbish, the hours of work expected are unreasonable, the criminal justice system is on its knees, job prospects are abysmal, but there's nothing quite like it. I was insanely jealous when the barristers swooshed past in their gowns, rushing from one hearing to another, overworked and underpaid. On the way home my mind was awash with the evidence that I'd heard, what was good, bad or indifferent about the advocates that I'd listened to and watched, how the judge dealt with that evidence and what the possible outcome of the case might be.
In hindsight, I should have spent the day at a County Court and those old passions would have remained submerged.
Perhaps there's a cure, a sort of Criminal Barristers to be Anonymous?
19 comments:
Nah, you've got the bug - just go with it. For some people, the criminal bar is nirvana, even with all its foibles, pitfalls and uncertainty. True, you wouldn't choose it for the money - but there are many other good reasons to choose a career path. If I'd wanted money, I'd have stayed in my old career (a specialist branch of IT): I didn't - I wanted something that got me out of bed each morning. If a criminal practice gets you out of bed, you'll be happier (and probably more successful) doing that then churning out PI opinions or erudite advices on company law... I guess what I'm saying is this: People tend to do well at what they enjoy, so if you've found what that is, I suggest you do it.
wouldn't choose it for the money - but definitely wouldn't choose it for the law, which bores me pretty much senseless. chacun a son gout...
There is certainly something that captures the imagination about watching the barristers swish by. Something that just makes me want to be them. Bring on the day that it is us doing the swishing.
Chris, Indeed I do have the bug, worse than Swine Flu and much more contagious. Perhaps it will wear off in time and I'll come to my senses?
SW - I must be very ignorant, had to google 'chacun a son gout':-)
Odysseus - you may 'swish' one day, I will 'swoosh', it's a bit like a swish, but a bit more exaggerated:-) I know the wig and gown thing is very shallow of me, but there is something so hopelessly elegant about it, despite the fact that most people deny having such thoughts, it just cuts the mustard compared to a boring black suit.
My Dear Maid,
I can only recommend one treatment, to wit, the Civil Procedure Rules.
Unfortunately, its Kill or Cure...!!
Minxy - I'm afraid it was the good old Mr White-Book himself that sent me scurrying off to the Crown Court for a bit of illicit crime. Must've been the Security For Costs and Part 36 Payments that tipped me over the edge.
Maid, Maid, Maid. Slaps around the face, and throws bucket of cold water over you. Have all my efforts to cure you of these silly notions all been for nothing ?
Swooshing, righting wrongs, upholding justice blah, blah, yawn. Get a grip, woman, get a grip.
BM, get yourself down to Bow Street Magistrates Court and see if the feeling is the same.
I like the look of your Old Court House. I wouldn't mind swishing up the gravel drive each morning on my Vespa and strutting my stuff there, but just try it in Bow. I would get my Vespa nicked, and beated up by some scumbag hoodie, probably my client.
I admire your pluck, but methinks that BPP have addled your brain.
Swizzy
My Dear Maid,
I KNOW what a deliciously WICKED feeling to be swept away by Madame Justice into the arms of Mr Crime, but consider the White Book and all its baby pre action protocols!! Must they be left alone, out in the cold, BEGGING the world to settle only to be comprehensively ignored? Have PITY on the Children of Woolfe!!!!
Barmaid - Swiss got there before me. The cure is the spell in any busy magistrates court. I started my BVC journey thinking that I wanted to be a criminal practitioner - for the very same reasons you do.
Having almost completed pupillage at a common law set I can tell you that my heart sinks whenever I see R v Whomever in my diary. Junior crime sucks.
Forget poorly paid - think about offensively poorly paid. £40 for a first up in the Mags. Your client is in custody, you make your way down to the cells. He is revolting, stinky and agressive. He is obstructive in giving his instructions. You are due on before lunch but the list is so long that you are bumped off until the afternoon. Cue time for a Twix (don't chance the ham sandwiches) and a cup of weak tea.
You cobble together a hopeless bail application, slink into court - sit with a sea of other baby-barristers and solicitors. Wait four long and tedious hours to be called on. Get a royal roasting from some cantakerous DJ in front of your peers. Slink back out of court.
You pocket your £40 in the hope that you might be instructed to take the trial but the solicitor elects to do his own advocacy - more lucrative. But happy days - he sends another £40 first up your way. Rinse and repeat.
I want to do crime, I not only want the outfit (which I look positively STUNNING in if I do say so myself, esp with my mikimoto earings and Louboutine kidskin peeptoes) I want only the glam prosecutions of nasty mobile phone company/fraudulent organisations (and no clients that are reliant on heroin, stink of wee or speak with other than a home counties bur) after which i bed Mr Justice Deed and (because OBVIOSLY the £40 a day wont apply to me - its just said by people to put us off we know all barristers are rich) to buy a huge townhouse in Holland Park and a Pile in the country like they do on TV.
Well its probaly more realistic than me getting ANY pupillage :)
LG - well that's counted me out instructing you if I ever stray over the thin blue line - no I don't stink of wee thankyou (at least not yet), but my accent doesn't come up to scratch:-)
One thing I did notice yesterday; lots of barristers about the place, not one of em a female? Perhaps equality hasn't seeped out into the provinces just yet!
Anon - I know, I know - crim is the bad boy of law, did 2 years pro-bono with the youth justice system during LLB, but for some reason it hasn't lost its charm, just wish it would tbh.
Yeah mine is regional too SIGH
Possibly it depends on the court. I spent a week on a mini at blackfriars crown and wondering about in the canteen etc there were LOADS of women. I would also say a large percentage, esp of the men, were BME too.
I did two days at the hideous public convenience otherwise known as Horseferry Road mags last year (it was effing torture, I tell you). The rota of baby-bs and solciitors was very nearly all women and ethnics. In contrast, when I did a day at the High Court, Ch D, it was a Slough Grammar reunion; entirely white and male, and people talking about pinds. And yet people say the Bar isn't diverse.
Anon, useful pointer there about those nasty solicitor types cutting you out of the gig when the trial is heard. Does that happen regularly and, if so, how do those at the junior end of the criminal bar get enough work in order to survive ?
A non-practicing Barrister is challenging the Bar Council in the Employment Tribunal over compulsory funding of pupillages rule. The Claimant alleges Indirect Race Discrimination against the Bar Council. The Claimant is Black African!
Venue : London Central Employment Tribunal
Hearing Dates: 26-28 August 2009
Bar Maid! You have the bug too! Its absolutely YUCK isn't it? Everyone including senior barristers and lecturers have said DONT DO IT, NO MONEY, but yet we still want to do it because we are gluttonfor punishment?
As for the compulsory funded pupillage thing, I hope he doesnt win! I wouldn't do pupillage if I wasn't being paid for it.
Lost - it's a fools game I know and I hope that I'll come to my senses soon enough; force myself to enjoy exclusion clauses:-)
Anon - re. the employment tribunal - William Wilberforce would turn in his grave don't you think?
Am I being fik, or sumfing ? How could the compulsory funding requirement amount to indirect race discrimination ?
And it is non-practising (cough).
I hate to agree with BB but I am stumped by what anon means?
G
Post a Comment