The defining images in the second series of BBC legal drama Silk – which drew to a close last night – were (arguably) 1) Clive Reader’s beautiful New York style loft apartment and 2) Clive Reader’s exotic sports car.
Both are way more commercial Bar than publicly funded Bar. Yet Reader (pictured) is a criminal barrister. How could he afford such extravagances?
I know, I know, Silk’s not real. But it’s the propagation of this sort of misleading have-your-cake-and-eat-it myth that’s behind the massive oversupply of wannabe barristers who enrol each year on the BPTC.
To set the record straight: the commercial Bar = geeky, intellectual, dry, not much time in court, but loads of money.
The criminal bar = like Silk, but without the money.
