Ok so I know it's been a REALLY long time but...

I think it is about time I shared the news - I caught the golden snitch. A criminal one starting in 12 months time. !

I really should have posted earlier, but have been waiting for a letter to land on my doorstep saying "dear CLG, we're very sorry but there's been some mistake..." 3 months down the line it seems they haven't changed their mind!

I have been a terrible blogger, my last post was over 12 months ago; and to be honest I'm not sure I'm cut out for committed blogging, but I did think I ought to share that bit of news. :D

I am going to try and be a bit more active again now that the BVC and pupillage applications are no longer consuming my life. Who knows I might even think of something interesting to write about!

Summer is over.

I should have known, the weather over the love nest has been less than pleasant, every morning feels like it got lost on the way to mid-November, and that includes the mornings when I have woken up sans-hangover. It is time for me to put away the party dresses, even the amazing new pink one with the eccentric hoop that deserves to be in a Lady Gaga music video, and get my study on.

I just had a "casual flick" through the amount of work I probably should have done already and I am unlikely to be getting much sleep between now and the 4th September. To be fair, that bit isn't going to change, I'm just going to have to swap the alcohol for advocacy and the dancing for drafting. Sad times. :(

Bye bye social life. I love you. See you in a year xxx

The new job

The pupillage rejection arrived in my inbox at around 8p.m. on Monday. No surprise, but still a disappointment. I'm yet to seek feedback as I've been working stupidly long hours at work recently, but will do so asap to at least get something positive out of it.

In other news, having settled into my new job, I am working on an application for something better! As much as I complain, it would appear I can't sit still for too long. I also seem to be being pulled into office politics whether I like it or not. Its nothing new though, same shit different location, I've heard it all before... civil servants LOVE to moan! The only thing is, this office is a bit like school, there are cliques of people that all socialise together, and I've heard that people only get promotions "if their face fits", which sucks because it is quite clear to everybody in the office that my line manager should be the one calling the shots, but instead the previous office manager has been replaced by a peroxide blonde bimbo who wears ridiculously low cut dresses to work and seems to have difficulty putting a sentence together. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a bitter outsider, I've been more than welcomed into the "face fits" clique with open arms, but I just don't like it very much. I'm shocked in fact that a workplace can be so much like returning to school! But what the hell, it is only a temporary thing, I'm not planning on staying very long. In the meantime, the cool kids have got a lot to learn about how to party, and I'm having a great time broadening their horizons... ;)

...and breathe.

I am finally settled!!! :D I have moved back down south, to a beautiful love nest with Lovely Boy, settled in to my new job and for the time being at least, all is calm. I can breathe!!! It is such a relief, we have even finally sorted out our broadband, so in theory I can actually get back into writing this blog without feeling the need to close the screen every five seconds because my sister has walked in to the room.

In terms of the BVC, exam results for year 1 were fine. I'm on target for a VC if things carry on the way they are going. The nerves got the best of me in my Advocacy 1 exam which seriously sucked as all year I was doing so well, but as everything else went well I'm not allowing it to eat away at me too much. I've had 2 pupillage interviews this time around, the first one (on the day I moved house) was a total train wreck, I got lost on my way there and was pretty flustered and couldn't really think straight - so there was no surprise when I didn't get through to the second round. The second interview went really well I think. The panel had really read my application in advance and their questions were quite encouraging. I know it is unlikely that I'll secure pupillage this year, given it's my first crack at it, but still I'm slightly apprehensive about tomorrow as no rejection has been forthcoming as yet.

As much as I've moaned about being so busy over the last few months, I've still found plenty of time to party all over London since I've been back, and I even partied in Germany for a weekend with my friends and a boat load of HOT German men. Lovely Boy was at home, naturally ;)

It's soooo good to be back! :)

Holding my breath

Life is so hectic at the moment that I have still not had time to fully feel the happiness I'm sure I am due since discovering that I've been awarded a Scholarship. I've moved back down to London and started a new job although I am technically homeless (again) as Lovely Boy and I have not been able to find a place to live together as quickly as we had anticipated.

Non-Olpas applications, I am ashamed to admit have gone completely out of the window as I am so short on time and since I am couch surfing with friends, finding the time and space in which to sit down and crack out a snitch winning application has been bloody impossible. If I am honest I have barely found the time to prepare for my Conference and Advocacy exams.

I have spent the past month looking forwards to the 6th June, when Year 1 of the BVC will be over and I will finally get the opportunity to come up for air, maybe even have a lazy week in the sunshine? Alas, it is not meant to be, as I discovered today that the following weekend I will be moving house and attending a Pupillage interview on the same day! Two things I have wanted so much... and they both come on the same day?!

I'll sleep when I'm dead. I hope.

I GOT A SCHOLARSHIP :)

Scholarship Interview

My wonderful parents bought me a shiny new laptop for my birthday :), meaning the lost laptop cable saga has drawn to an end, which is just as well because it was a "Time" laptop and it is pretty difficult to get your hands on a cable for one of those these days...

Anyway, last week I had my interview with Middle Temple for a Scholarship. It was nowhere near as terrifying an experience as I was expecting, particularly based on the horror stories a friend of mine had told me about her interview last year.

I went into a room with three panel members: A Chancery Judge, a Chancery Barrister (Eek!) and a Criminal Silk. I was horrified when the chair told me that the two of them were Chancery lawyers, and considered walking out there and then, but thankfully, the Criminal Silk took over the interview and asked me about Family and Criminal Law.

I was asked why I was interested in Family Law, where I thought the line should be drawn with regards to getting into the emotions of Family cases and whether or not I thought the Privacy of Care cases should be lifted. I answered with a resounding NO and then had to argue my position. I think I handled that bit quite well, but it is impossible to tell really, I at least hung on to my convictions and was able to justify my opinion, so hopefully that was what they were looking for.

I was then asked about my thoughts on the Heathrow robbery trial and whether or not I thought Juries should be replaced by judges in all criminal trials, I talked about complex fraud, dumbfounded juries and then about the division of the tribunal of fact and law, inadmissible evidence and the importance of being tried by ones peers and concluded that I wasn't totally decided on the issue.

Then, a question that really threw me: Imagine you are producing a short film for Middle Temple to be targeted at university students to encourage them to come to the Bar, what important messages would you put across?

To be honest, I am slightly concerned that I may have gone on a bit too much about accessibility, and about preconceptions within society that the Bar is not accessible to everyone, despite the efforts made by the Bar to dispel this. However the panel did at least seem interested in what I was saying, I just hope I wasn't on my soapbox too much.... :s The truth is, I was trying to figure out what they wanted to hear and not thinking enough about what I wanted to say, and as soon as I worried about what they wanted me to say, my mind started to cloud over and I may have gone on a bit of a ramble. I did pull myself out though, in good time I hope, so I don't think it went all that badly.

The other 2 panel members decided that they didn't need to ask me anything else, the chancery barrister said that she thought we'd covered a lot of interesting ground and there was no need to ask anything else. Is that a good sign? Who knows. But it did throw me because I had been expecting questions from each of them and so directed all of my answers at the member that had asked the questions and not really at the other 2. Hopefully that wont count against me too much though.

With that the interview was over and I spent the rest of the day in shock, trying to process the fact that it had finished. Now I just have to wait for the results. Fingers Crossed!