Oh, the glamour of the criminal Bar...
The East Midlands branch of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is demanding that those who work for it as agents in the Magistrates' Court attend a day-long workshop so basic that it does not even qualify them for any CPD hours.
And it's refusing to pay attendees' travel costs or provide them with even a sandwich during the 9:30am-4pm session...
Ed note: This is the latest post in the 'If I knew then what I know now' series, where leading members of the legal profession share their wisdom with the next generation of wannabes.
One of the things I did know – courtesy of a father at the Bar – was how enjoyable a barrister’s life could be. That’s good, because you’re only here once. But there are still lots of things I wish I knew, writes Simon Myerson QC. So, in no particular order...
Ed note: This is the latest post in the 'If I knew then what I know now' series, where leading members of the legal profession share their wisdom with the next generation of wannabes.
I was in truth pretty clueless when I set out for a career at the Bar. If you’d have told idealistic undergraduate me I was to end up as a lawyer, let alone what I would then have thought of as a "divorce lawyer", I’d have been offended, writes acclaimed barrister and blogger Lucy Reed...
Last night’s speech by incoming Bar Council chair Maura McGowan QC was full of diplomatic turns of phrase. But make no mistake, it contains some strong warning messages to rookie barristers hopeful of pursuing careers in publicly-funded areas...
Ed note: This is the latest post in the 'If I knew then what I know now' series, where leading members of the legal profession share their wisdom with the next generation of wannabes.
I only learned the most significant lesson about being an advocate after years in practice, paying close attention to what worked and what did not. It is something that no one is likely to teach you when you are studying to become a lawyer. In fact, I was taught the opposite, writes Matthew Ryder QC...
What I wish I knew then, that I know now, is this: the most effective advocacy is invisible.
Some things about good advocacy are uncontroversial. For example, everyone will say that you must master your brief, work hard and try to be both fair and fearless. But some advocates are said to possess very special qualities that mark them out from the rest – you see them in films and you read about them in novels...
Picture courtesy of must-follow legal tweeter Jeremy Hopkins.
Yesterday on her blog Bar Standards Board (BSB) chief Baroness Ruth Deech argued that there is no difference between calling the police "plebs", as Andrew Mitchell was memorably said to have done recently, and last week’s reference by Alex Salmond to the government as "Lord Snootys".
Deech added: "The internet and the press are awash with insulting phrases used against perceived upper class, e.g. (forgive me) 'Tory scum', 'Eton mafia', twits and worse. Class warfare is being waged by language. Why is it worse one way than the other?"
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