October teaching weekend.

I had my first proper teaching weekend this weekend, and I have to say I'm feeling positive. There are a lot of things to complain about I guess, but on the whole I'm pretty happy. My classmates and I have bonded really well, I was expecting cut-throat competition and point scoring all the time, but so far none of that. We're all pretty supportive of each other and generally just enjoy each other's company.

Legal Research takes up so much time it is untrue! Already I loathe MS Word and its' inability to consistently help me with the formatting of my research record. Sometimes it plays along and that "auto format" thingy works brilliantly, and then it will just stop doing it and I have to try and figure out what it was that it was doing automatically. I'm useless with computers at the best of times, and when you've been working on something for hours and it suddenly decides to change your font, the temptation to throw the damn thing out of the window nearly gets the better of me. The actual process of researching the problems and writing it up is not so bad though, I quite like it, although I wish there was a way of fast-forwarding the slow bits.

Advocacy went really well. I was quite nervous about getting up for the first time, but actually it was pretty fun. I think the key at this stage is probably confidence. Especially getting up in front of my classmates, instead of imagining them being critical of the negatives, I tried to imagine them being impressed by the bits I did well, and it really helped. It meant that I didn't care about them watching, I was just focusing on the job in hand. I really liked the way that the class was structured, and the advice the tutor gave was individual to the person, and dealt with their biggest issue, whatever that was. The best bit though in terms of a confidence boost, was that I got a "Very Competent" for my first go :) very competent and very proud.

Civil remains dull as dishwater in my eyes. The class prep took so long I could feel myself ageing as I worked my through the CPR. I want to get over my dislike of the subject, I want to keep an open mind about which area of law I want to practice in, but the reality is that it just seems so boring in comparison to crime!

Criminal obviously, was better. There was loads of reading for that as well though. I made the mistake of preparing for Civ and Crim last of all, which was not a good idea. This time around I'm going to do them first, because you just cannot rush it if you want to remember any of it. The questions we had to prepare for the class helped though because I was able to focus my reading, but there is very little guidance on whether for the exam we need to know EVERYTHING or just the topics we discuss in the class. Oh and does anyone know if the MCT questions handed out in the SGS are reflective of the questions in the exam in the sense of the level of difficulty that is?? Because they seemed quite straightforward, but I keep hearing horror stories about the exam... and of course, there are no "past papers" we can look at until the mock exam.

Written Skills was taught really well. It was the first time that we didn't seem to rush through the content at break neck speed, instead we were actually being taught an approach to opinion writing and good methods to prepare and plan.

We haven't had Conference yet, which is one that I'm a bit uncertain about. It will hopefully go well, but unlike advocacy, I've never seen a Barrister actually doing the skill, so I find it difficult to visualise myself doing it. But hey ho, for now I've got looking for a job to continue worrying about!

Summer round up

In the interests of anonymity I've been trying where possible to not blog about mini pupillages etc at the time that I've actually been doing them. However it is probably now safe to blog away about some of the more positive experiences I've had over the summer (You'll be aware that employment wise, things didn't go so well).


Marshalling was brilliant, particularly as I'd been out of legal thinking mode for a while, it was refreshing to be applying my brain to the facts of the case, and discussing them with the judge when we were in chambers. The best point really was that there were some interesting points of law raised during the trail, whether Prosecution counsel had to tender a witness whose evidence wasn't entirely favourable to his case, bad character applications, and ultimately whether the crown had presented sufficient evidence on which a jury could convict at half time. The judge really involved me in his thought process, asking me my opinion, directing me to relevant sections in Archbold etc so I could read what he had read and see what conclusion I reached and discussing it.

Plus, sitting on the bench next to him was something else entirely! Obviously there's the fact that it gave me a different perspective on the court, a different angle from which to observe counsel etc. but ultimately it was FUN. At one point a witness accidentally called me "Your Honour" which made me blush, and internally giggle like a school girl. HA!

All in all, I quite enjoyed it :)

I also did another Criminal mini pupillage for 2 days. This time I was shadowing the prosecution and it gave me a completely different perspective again on the workings of a trial. Not only did I get to talk with counsel, I also got a chance to chat with the Officer of the Case, and got a real appreciation for the amount of work that can go into bringing a case to trial. The case in particular was a pretty big deal, and a LOT of work had gone into preparing it. Its one of those things that is obvious and you more or less know but until I actually spoke to the team behind the scenes I had no real appreciation of the work being put in to secure a conviction.

Previously I've not been able to picture myself prosecuting, there seemed to me to be something a bit sinister to be working for a conviction, given the impact that can have on a defendant's life, particularly having done a lot of research into the difficulty of resettlement and reintegration when a prisoner is released from custody. However, now I can appreciate that both sides are just as important as each other for the law to be upheld, and its probably a good thing I've finally realised that because its not like I'll get a choice in practice!


So despite being screwed over in two jobs this summer, its not all been bad. Yes, I am unemployed again, yes I am back in Brummie land with my parents, no, I have no idea how I'm going to pay my BVC fees without a job and yes, I am laying awake all night worrying. BUT at least I'm finally studying the BVC and I've had some good experiences over the summer that make my CV sparkle a little brighter than it did in the Spring.

My mini adventure

I've been on a mini-pupillage this week. My first mini-pupillage in fact, and frankly I've had the time of my life. I'm with a Criminal set based in central London, but all week so far I've been following a trial in a London court.

My mini-pupil master is a lovely guy who has included me as much as he could, and I really felt involved with the case, but more importantly he and the counsel for Prosecution both had a lot of time for me once the court day was over. Yesterday the three of us went for a drink and we had a really good time, they passed on horror stories and advice in equal measure and generally made me feel welcome.

I had the added bonus of being a close friend of the Landlord of the pub where his chambers tend to drink, meaning that we already had a common social ground on which to talk about, and I think that this helped me a lot. It made our relationship a bit more friendly, allowed a bit of banter and we had a laugh. That wasn't what I was expecting from the week, but it is definitely not something I'd complain about.

The case that he was working on was a short trial, which meant that I got to see a whole trial from start to finish in the space of 4 days. It was brilliant seeing all the different stages, from examination in chief to cross examination, closing speeches and the jury delivering a verdict. As I was watching the Barristers do their thing, I considered each bit and tried to imagine myself filling their role. Some of the time I thought "Woop woop! I could do that!" particularly the closing speeches, where they both got a bit theatrical it had to be said. At other points though, I couldn't imagine myself being able to do it. When the prosecution counsel was cross examining the defendant, she was clearly trying to get him to lose his temper and show the jury his aggressive character, but even knowing she wanted that to happen, I just thought "I would not be able to cope if I were her and he does lose it!". I spoke to her about it, and she assured me that it is something you get used to, and that as I've thrown men out of pubs before, I'll probably be able to handle myself, but all the same, I was in awe of her.

Best of all though, I was chatting to one of the security guards and he gave me the best compliment ever:
"yeah, I've gotta be honest, you do have that Barrister look about you, I reckon you'll go far."

I LOVE THAT MAN.