Open thread: What’s it like to be a barrister?

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By Legal Cheek on

Share your experiences with the next generation of bar wannabes below the line

To some, the bar is the pinnacle of legal practice, a home to the nation’s very best law brains. To others, it’s a freak show, made up of an unlikely combination of savants, chancers and high society offspring.

Most agree that different types are attracted to different practice areas — with the brainiest gravitating to magic circle commercial sets like Brick Court, Essex Court, Fountain Court, One Essex Court and Blackstone, and the performer types heading over to the criminal bar where they can woo juries.

Of course, there are a whole host of other specialisms, each appealing to different personalities.

But what’s it actually like to work as a barrister? Which chambers are the nicest? Which are terrifying Darwinian hell-holes? And what advice would those who have made it to the bar give to the next generation of wannabes?

Share your wisdom in the Legal Cheek comments section below.