Young barristers report lower levels of overall wellbeing

Apologies – as a consequence of what, specifically?

In any event:

1. Barrister colleagues in Chambers have no authority over the working hours I choose to keep – that is one of the benefits of self-employment;

2. I value my quality of life and personal relationships with friends and family above the greed of my colleagues;

3. Effective clerking is not simply a question of filling the diary – effective clerking is also about ensuring that their members have sufficient time to prepare their cases so that repeat instructions may be secured, resulting in higher-quality and better paid briefs, while also ensuring that their members remain healthy and motivated. It does a clerk no favours if their members take the view that the balance isn’t right from them and either a) leave the Bar, or b) even worse, leave Chambers for a competitor.

In line with what I’d expect to receive at the likes of A&O, Freshfields or Linklaters at the same level of qualification, and I practise in an area which is not commercial.

From my perspective, I think that is a good deal given the flexibility that I have as counsel, and this is in the context of working on average less hard than someone in one of those firms in a transactional team (even if the occasional weekend gets sacrificed because of a trial starting on Monday).

I estimate that I could have billed around another 30-35k for the calendar year had I taken less holiday / put myself under more pressure.

In terms of getting away with not preparing as much as you would like, my view is that each barrister needs to decide for themselves what their appetite for risk is and how comfortable they are winging it to an extent.

Personally, my appetite for risk is low – going into court is significantly more stressful when you’re under-prepared. I find that stress has a knock-on impact on other parts of life. Additionally, there is a greater risk that you will make a mistake and, in those circumstances, a solicitor is unlikely to use you again. You also risk looking poor in front of a judge who you might go on to appear in front of on a regular basis. Reputation means a lot at the Bar.

I prefer to ensure that my cases are fully prepared, to the extent that I am able to (not always possible), and that I am available to field queries from my solicitors on an ad hoc basis, which I think is good client care and makes them more likely to use you again. Also, you’re more likely to win if you’re more prepared, again leading hopefully to repeat instructions and moreover to a positive reputation with the court. The other benefits are principally: a) it better protects your personal life (while acknowleding that the Bar is not a 9-5, long hours are part of the job, as is weekend working, but this serves to mitigate the worst effects), and b) it means you are more likely to have capacity when that really high quality set of instructions comes in. If you’re just churning your day-to-day then you may not be around to take in that lovely brief for a bank or an interesting case on appeal.

I’ve found that building trust with the clerks is important – show them the results of your approach and they will support you, though never forget that they have a job to do too and you should help them out when they really need it (and recognising when they genuinely need help is a skill in itself). It’s a relationship of compromise but ultimately you’re there to help each other.