‘Will doing a PhD damage my chances of a career at the bar?’

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By Legal Cheek on

I have a fully-funded offer from Oxford Uni

In the latest instalment in our Career Conundrums series, one barrister hopeful has concerns that completing a PhD will damage his chances at the bar.

“I have an offer to do a fully-funded DPhil (PhD) at Oxford University in History. Having just finished my undergraduate degree in history (at Oxford) and being about to finish my masters in history (Oxford again), I have been considering the bar as a potential career. I have got some work experience and extracurricular stuff lined up which I think would make me a legitimate candidate for pupillage down the road.”

“Is doing a PhD in a subject which I enjoy ultimately damaging to a legal career? Would I be better off trying my luck with scholarship applications next year, rather than taking three/four years to pursue something that has no immediate relevance to what I want to do in the long-term?”

If you have a career conundrum, email us at team@legalcheek.com.