A Question of Pupillage – A Cautionary Tale!

Another chapter of pupillage applications closes its door....

As the last response from the Pupillage Portal electronically makes its way through cyberspace and into my inbox, the mainstay of applications for this years Pupillage Portal are now firmly consigned to the history books, as another chapter comes to a close.

And so it is for another year, that the submission process has proven to be both fruitless and unforgiving, as I am unable to secure any potential interviews for the forthcoming pupillage season.

Of course one must be mindful of the increasingly competitive nature of the Bar and the requirement for individuals to demonstrate that they indeed have both the academic prowess and competent advocacy skills to complement the often challenging and spirited rigours of life in chambers.

However, the more challenging thoughts of puzzlement and frustration are borne out from this nemesis otherwise known as the Pupillage Portal. Indeed, last week saw a flurry of communications driven through both Twitter and the respective websites of the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board, as information emerged that the Pupillage Portal, which is operated by GTI Recruiting Solutions, had run into a few teething problems.

This being said, one must take the proactive view of how can an individual undertake to increase and better their chances of success at this fastidious and lamentable application process?

Since being ‘Called to the Bar’ in 2007, I have personally strived to support my applications for pupillage by demonstrating my creditable application of legal knowledge accompanied by my demonstrable practical legal skills.  As an active Trade Union Official, I have undertaken many employment cases and to date, over a five year period, I have never lost a case. Additionally, I have also gained success in achieving out of court commercial settlements.

As a Lecturer in Law, I have lectured extensively across the wide legal academic landscape from AS/A2, ILEX to Masters within both University and College academic legal programmes and yet, my experiences would demonstrate that these homed skills do not seem to be a persuasive or credible route to gain an equal footing within the doors of chambers.

Turning to ‘The Pupillage Blog’, I decided that providing another string to the bow and harnessing the prowess of social networking, both within a legal blog and across the Twitter network, would provide an excellent medium to provide an additional legal dimension to my capabilities. To date the jury is still out on this.  However, from a reflective standpoint, ‘The Pupillage Blog’ has grown and developed into a reliable source for the provision of  practical hands on information and legal commentary for aspiring pupils and barristers alike.

So whilst I am always mindful that any perspective set of chambers may seek credible evidential experience to provide a clear demonstration of an individuals capability to succeed within this profession, I draw upon my five year walk in the pupillage wilderness to seriously question what it is that makes an individual a suitable candidate for pupillage, other than an inward reflective appraisal of the pupils academic schooling, age or social background.

As I have mentioned previously, everyone comes to the Bar with their own unique story of how they achieved their goal. However, as an individual who has sought to come to the Bar as a mature student, opportunities are often far and few between in either obtaining a pupillage interview or achieving pupillage itself.

Questionably the issues that are in discussion within our profession are very much centred around the longevity of differing legal areas of practice, especially as the Bar moves to a more centre stage of in-house lawyers within the ever growing employed Bar.  Yet if the Bar is to maintain its strength in these austere times, it will need to develop the flexibility and fortitude to address change within a positive framework, which in turn will safeguard the profession and all those who decide to enter through its academic gates.

So you may ask, was it all worth it?

In short the answer is yes.  Whilst I may not have achieved my desired end goal and of course the accompanied disappointment of not attaining pupillage,  I have provided advocacy and the much needed support to individuals whom would otherwise would not have afforded it.  With this comes a terrific sense of personal achievement and a knowing that the path that I have taken was the right one!

As always,

Justin Time

July 26th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Getting Pupillage, Pupillage Blog News, Pupillage Portal | 3 comments

Guest Book Review With Thom Dyke

Banks on Sentence (2 vols., 6th edn.)

With the pupillage season in full swing and those all important interviews on the horizon, I am really pleased to welcome Thom Dyke to The Pupillage Blog for a Guest Book Review upon Banks on Sentence (2 vols., 6th edn.) by Robert Banks.

Guest Book Review With Thom Dyke – Banks on Sentence (2 vols., 6th edn.)

In T.S. Eliot’s poem, the eponymous J. Alfred Prufrock measured out his life in coffee spoons. I measure my life by the similarly mundane milestones of the new editions of Archbold or The White Book. But for those of you measuring your life by the altogether more depressing marker of the annual pupillage application season, 5 May saw the publication of the sixth edition of Banks on Sentence.

Why (I hear you cry), should you be interested in shelling out your hard earned cash on another textbook? Well, as anyone who has been through the gruelling process of pupillage interviews will attest, interview committees love to set topical legal discussion questions. Particularly for those of you who have applied to criminal or common law sets, there is nothing more current than the issues surrounding sentencing, as shown by the recent furore over Ken Clarke’s comments over increasing the discount for early guilty pleas in rape cases.

So forewarned is forearmed. This isn’t to say that pupillage committees will necessarily expect you to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the penalties for every obscure offence, but you will certainly be expected to be able to talk with a certain degree of confidence about the wider issues that arise from sentencing and the application of the guidelines. Being able to demonstrate a solid grasp of sentencing issues is certainly one way you can impress an interview panel.

And that’s where Banks comes in. Although it carries the fairly hefty price tag of £94 (if you buy both volumes together online), it is pretty much the practitioner’s go-to guide to sentencing procedure, guidelines and case law. (I appreciate I’m not mentioning Thomas, but there’s a limit to what fits in a wheely bag!) The new edition is divided up into two volumes for the first time. Volume 1 aims to collect all the various principles, procedures and orders together in one place. Volume 2 is essentially based around the previous edition of Banks, but has been brought up to date by expanding on the number of cases dealing with the more commonly occurring offences.

And for those of you who do bag a pupillage offer this year, spending some time before you start your first six reading up on the key sentencing guidelines will be time well spent, not to mention paying dividends when you are on your feet in your second six. The only question your client is ever really and truly interested in, is what kind of sentence they are likely to get. Although it will take a while for you to get an intuitive feel for the likely outcome, if you know your way around the guidelines and case law for the most common offences, then it’s one less thing to be nervous about during your early court appearances.

Thom Dyke is a barrister practising in human rights, criminal and public law.
Banks on Sentence (2 vols., 6th edn.) by Robert Banks £94.00

June 24th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: Criminal Legal Opinion, Legal Opinion, Pupillage Blog Guest Post, Pupillage Skills | Please comment

Top 5 Reasons for Young Lawyers and Barristers to Get Blogging

The Pupillage Blog Welcomes Gavin Ward

I am really pleased to welcome Gavin Ward as he pens a ‘Guest Posting’ on The Pupillage Blog entitled the ‘Top 5 Reasons for Young Lawyers and Barristers to Get Blogging’.

Top 5 Reasons for Young Lawyers and Barristers to Get Blogging

Looking towards 2012-2013, many young lawyers, barristers and trainee solicitors should no longer be looking merely to survive, but instead to thrive and advance their careers. Aside from the most important approach of getting the head down and doing the legal work, blogging or, as some in the legal profession prefer to call it, to blawg, can produce some powerful results. Below are my five top reasons for young lawyers and barristers to get blogging / blawging:-


1. Engage with the Legal Profession

By blogging about legal topics and commenting on other blogs, you are, immediately, engaging with the legal profession, among others. The legal profession in the UK, particularly here in Scotland, is tightly-knit and the same could be said of the legal professions of other countries around the world. A large source of the daily business of a lawyer or barrister comes from work referred to them by other lawyers. For example, for those doing court work in a remote town, a referral may come from a solicitor in a larger law firm in another location with an urgent request for an order to be sought from the Court in that remote town; for those practising technology law in a large law firm, a request may come from a law firm in a different country seeking an opinion on legal regulation of parts of their client’s business as it applies in a country with laws foreign to them; or for those practising corporate law, a referral may come from a law firm abroad representing a business looking to set up a subsidiary company. By engaging with other lawyers and demonstrating expertise in a certain area via blogging and other social media use, you are opening yourself and your firm up to potentially valuable relationships.


2. Tick the “business development” box

Following on from this, if any referrals or potential referrals of business are gained from blogging activities, you will have a most justified reason for adding hours to your time sheet under business development and, indeed, when it comes to appraisal-time, you will have something else to show a contribution to the team, the practice and to your own personal development. For some, business development is just a box to check off or an additional option to fill up a time-sheet. But it doesn’t have to be a chore. And it can be very meaningful.

To give an example, last year I posted a short article I had written on an international private law subject, namely issues of jurisdiction and sists of proceedings. A couple of weeks later, I got a call from a hotel owner in Glasgow, who had an action for damages in a Scottish court which had been sisted in favour of the Swiss courts. He was already a client of a large Scottish law firm and was in regular touch with two litigation partners. Nevertheless, he had, via Google, read one of my articles posted on my WardblawG website , which had held me out to be knowledgeable in that area. After around forty minutes on the phone and chatting through the general issues, I could have developed a potential business lead, although in that case I suggested he should speak with his current lawyers regarding his concerns and get in touch should he require a further expert opinion.

So, by blogging, you can put a nice big tick in the business development box.


3. Become a fish: Develop your own personal brand

I recall during my traineeship that a partner constantly called his trainees, including me, “pond life”. Pond life, he explained, was somewhere between single-cell organisms, such as amoeba, and larger creatures like fish. There was a useful Google image which helped him elaborate.  This reminded me of a scene in last year’s The Apprentice where a young Stuart Baggs was told by a recruitment expert that he wasn’t “even a fish”. But it doesn’t have to be that way and you can develop your own personal brand by blogging at an early age, rather than waiting for your articles and other publications to be published.

Partners in most medium to large law firms are ranked by organisations such as the Legal500 or Chambers, which have powerful directories online. They will or, at least, should have a page on their firm’s website dedicated to them, with their own email address and direct dial. They will or, at least, should write articles in legal journals, magazines or newspapers in their own name with their contact details displayed. Effectively, they have, through a long period of time, thus established a strong brand and online and offline presence.

Compare that to young lawyers, barristers and, in particular, trainee solicitors. They will, most likely, have no voice on the Legal500 or Chambers website; they will, in most instances, have no page on their firm’s website dedicated to them; they will, usually, have no articles written in their own name in journals or newspapers even if they have contributed to such articles which are published in a partner’s name. Thus, if the young legal professional takes no active measures to establish a brand online via blogging or social media engagement, their potential online presence will be unharnessed. As you think, you shall become. If you think you’re pond life, you’ll become pond life. So, become the fish.


4.  Show Responsibility and Trust by Getting it Right

Perhaps the main restriction stopping more young lawyers and barristers blogging and engaging online is a fear of damaging or destroying their reputation or a fear that the HR department of the firm and partners may frown upon time spent on work which isn’t branded and marketed by the firm. This is arguably an inherent product of the conservative nature of the profession and the choice not to blog or engage online is one to be respected if the individual or perhaps even if the firm so chooses. However, if looking to become a legal practitioner who really stands out, a strong brand, comprising strong web presence, is important if not essential.

So, in order to blog or use social media effectively for this purpose, care must be taken not only to avoid destroying your reputation and future career for life. One of the best and fundamental tips for doing so is not to “belch” out all of your thoughts online, as social media employment lawyer Michael Scutt wrote recently in the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers & Law 2.0. Instead, it is important to show responsibility, self-restraint and show that you can be trusted with what are essentially powerful methods of communication. Get it right and the rewards will follow; get it wrong and repent at leisure.


5. Develop Legal Knowledge and Increase Current Awareness

The law is changing constantly, in some areas more than others. And it is undoubtedly challenging to keep up, particularly if the body of law in your field is becoming larger and more intricate. Even if you do have daily email updates, read relevant legal news websites such as the Guardian’s law pages, the Scotsman’s legal section or free case law sites like CaseCheck, and stay updated on other forms of social media such as Twitter, Linkedin, or other law blogs, such as those outlined in The Time Blawg’s recent Blawg Review there’s no guarantee that the information you’ve read will stick in your mind. To improve your chance of learning and memorising new legal information, publishing on a blog can be a very useful tool. Not only does that improve your expression by forcing you to expand your own ideas, but because the information is made public, it provides a source of peer review and challenges you to get it right first time.

Consider judges. Their judgments will be made available publicly in ink that will persist for hundreds of years once published. There is, therefore, little if any margin for error. Blogging is similar. Anything published on the Internet, even on Twitter, will be cached and stored in some form or other permanently. This can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, mistakes can exist permanently and can possibly do harm to one’s reputation. But on the other hand, in addition to all the other benefits outlined above, blogging or publishing through social media can increase confidence in a certain area of law or practice, such that when you advise a client about it, you will know that you’ve got it right.


Conclusions

For young legal professionals, these remain challenging times. Recently, a fellow Scottish solicitor posted on Twitter asking if there were any benefits which the Law Society of Scotland could deliver for its younger members, to which a senior solicitor said bluntly, “Jobs”.

But even within present employment, there are ways for young lawyers to stand out. There seems to be a notion, much different from times in the 1970s or 1980s, that you need to have so many years under your belt before you become associate or partner or set up your own practice. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You only get out of your time what you put into it. One powerful way to spend your time is to network and build relationships online. By blogging or utilising social media networks such as Twitter, Linkedin or even Facebook, which are nevertheless crucial in optimising a blog’s value, you can set yourself up for success and build, and not ruin, a solid personal brand.

Gavin Ward is a blawger http://www.wardblawg.com, Search and Social Media Marketing Manager at Moore Legal Technology http://www.moorelegaltechnology.co.uk/ and non-practising Scottish solicitor. He shall be speaking about the topics outlined above in greater depth at the SYLA’s annual conference on 23 June 2011. See http://www.syla.co.uk for further details.

June 10th, 2011 | Tags: | Category: Legal Opinion, Pupillage Blog Guest Post | 5 comments

News, Tenancy and Pupillage Interviews

Preparing for that all important pupillage interview

As is usual at this time of year, eyes are firmly focused upon the ‘Pupillage Portal’ to see if any updates have been placed upon the applicants sent submissions.  Interestingly, I have noted that my first ‘Rejected’ note appeared and no notification was forwarded from the ‘Pupillage Portal’. With this in mind, my suggestion is to keep a daily online check to view any changes that may have arisen.

Turning for a moment to those who have already attained pupillage, I note that several chambers are currently seeking barristers.  12KBW are seeking barristers to be based in Bristol for fixed term tenancies and applications for these roles are being taken throughout June.  Keating Chambers is inviting applications for membership from established practitioners on or before 17th June, whilst 8 New Square are seeking to recruit barristers of up to 8 years of call and applications must be received by 30th June.  Finally, 9 Stone Buildings are currently seeking a new junior tenant to join Chambers in October of which applications close on 10th June.

With the interview season nearly upon us, I thought in this entry I would give some thoughtful suggestions towards this often daunting process. In short it is important if called for interview that you have a thoroughly good knowledge of current events of both the area of practice you seek to enter and events at the Bar, whilst also ensuring that you have a reliable handle on how any interview should be conducted. For a heads up on the rules of engagement for interview, please take some time to read and become familiar with the A – Z of Must Know Pupillage Guidelines listed to the left.  Remember, interviews can go wrong and my cautionary tale of this can be read at ‘Pupillage Interviews from ‘The Pupillage Blog‘. On that note, a word of thanks to CharonQC for highlighting this cautionary tale on his blog last week.

Regular readers of ‘The Pupillage Blog’ will be aware of a new section entitled ‘Chambers Legal Commentary’. This growing commentary of expert opinion via links directly to chambers newsletters will help enormously in the preparation for any impending interview.  Each newsletter provides expert opinion on current case law and specific legal commentary upon legislation within a wide area of differing legal fields.  Turning to Family Law, there is an excellent publication not listed in CLC entitled the Family Law Week Newsletter.  This newsletter is produced monthly and it addresses in copious detail all the topical family case law and legislation of the previous month, again I must emphasise that this is certainly worth reading if this is to be your chosen direction as an advocate.

Finally, I would like to recommend two excellent online articles.  Firstly, Sarah Fahy of St Ives Chambers has produced a succinct appraisal of the new offences against the person sentencing guidelines, which comes into effect on the 13th June.  Sarah has penned a clear and unfettered approach to this new legislation which makes these new sentencing guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council readily understandable for all practitioners who will be duty bound to address the new offences of assault.  The second recommended article is penned by criminal barrister Felicity Gerry, who has written a compelling article for the Solicitors Journal entitled ‘In these shoes?’  This feature, a must read for any pupil, recalls Felicity’s first steps at the Bar and her experiences through pupillage.

So until next time, good luck with all those interview preparations.

As always,
Justin Time

June 6th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: Criminal Legal Opinion, Getting Pupillage, Legal Opinion, Pupillage Blog News | Please comment

Pupillage Interviews And News From The Pupillage Blog

Latest News From The Pupillage Blog....

Can I start by saying a big thank you to all of those readers who have commented upon A Day In The Life of A Barrister with Felicity Gerry.  Over the coming weeks, ‘A Day In The Life of A Barrister’ will be a ongoing feature that will feature additional barristers, so keep an eye on ‘The Pupillage Blog’.

Turning now to the onslaught of pupillage interviews on the horizon, I can only stress how important it is to ensure that you are fully prepared and that you have approached any perspective interview with the absolute diligence required to answer any question that may be directed to you.  With this in mind, it is important to ensure that you are up-to-speed with the relevant legal news and especially news surrounding the legal disciplines that your respective chambers practices.  Over the coming weeks I will be adding relevant chambers newsletters to ‘Chambers Legal Commentary’ which will provide both decisive and compelling legal opinion to pertinent areas of law and applicable case law by respected barristers.

Other ongoing updates on ‘The Pupillage Blog’ include ‘News From Chambers’  (Court Diary & Chambers Updates) which from today (22nd May) include full Barrister profiles on all chambers news.  Finally, for those who do not subscribe to @Pupillageblog on Twitter, then you can catch with the daily legal news through the Court Diary Tweets at the Daily Pupillage Blog Legal News Updates via Twitter.

The news from the Bar this week has been eventful as ever.  On May 20th, the Bar Standards Board announced that there were to be proposed changes to CPD for all Barristers, which included an increase of CPD hours from 12 to 24.  Personally, I consider this a very sensible move, as arguably the proposed changes to Barristers CPD fall in line with other professions and should reflect the every changing and growing rigours of our practice.  For an in depth appraisal of the commissioned review by the Bar Standards Board into CPD Click here.

Finally, I would like to congratulate all of those fine individuals who embarked upon the London Legal Walk this week and to their credit have raised nearly £500,000 for free legal advice centres in London. Outstanding effort!!!  To see details of the monies raised and those 68 Bar Teams that took part, click here.

So until next time,  good luck with all those pupillage interview preparations and keep your eyes peeled on ‘The Pupillage Blog’.

As always,
Justin Time

 

May 22nd, 2011 | Tags: , , , , | Category: A Day In The Life Of A Barrister, Getting Pupillage, News From Chambers, Pupillage Blog News, Pupillage Blog on Twitter | Please comment
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