Tag: If I knew…

9 classic ‘If I knew’ articles that you may have missed

In anticipation of this evening’s ‘If I knew’ Q&A at Inner Temple, the Legal Cheek...

Mar 24 2014 11:07am

‘Teaching is the most important thing I’ve done to improve my work as a lawyer’

When his bid to work himself up from the bottom of a supermarket chain stalled, Laurie Anstis decided to reconsider his early views on university education and pursue a career as a solicitor.

Mar 21 2014 11:56am

Why life as a QC is more similar to running a pub in Cleethorpes than at first it may appear

When she became a lawyer, Taryn Lee QC thought that she was taking a very different path to her publican parents. But now she's not so sure.

Jan 31 2014 9:58am

Academia is ‘a long way from my hopes of being a barrister but it’s an amazing life’

Law students need to remember that "the you of today" may differ from "the you of the years ahead", says Northumbria University professor of law and society Chris Ashford.

Jan 24 2014 9:28am

‘There is a life after the criminal Bar’

Weber Shandwick head of public affairs Alex Deane doesn’t regret his time scraping a living...

Jan 17 2014 9:45am

‘Unless your dad is senior partner you are the only person in your firm who truly cares about your career’

With work thin on the ground after the 2008 crash, corporate lawyer Danvers Baillieu found...

Jan 10 2014 2:00pm

‘Training contracts were hard to come by: 147 applications resulted in 147 rejections’

The 90s recession proved a blessing in disguise for Lancaster University senior law lecturer Angus...

Dec 20 2013 1:37pm

‘Turning a story round as a journalist is closer to the process of preparing a late brief for a trial than I ever imagined’

Changing careers isn’t easy, says Catherine Urquhart of her switch from journalist at The Times...

Dec 13 2013 8:48am

‘The whole chargeable hours thing was a bit of a pain in the backside’

There’s a reason not many lawyers move back into practice after going in-house, says Mark...

Nov 29 2013 11:57am

‘I applied to every firm in my home town for a training contract and they all rejected me without interview’

Rejection has proved a source of motivation for BPP chief Carl Lygo on his journey...

Nov 15 2013 10:40am

‘If you recognise fear in yourself you are more able to see it in others’

At first, Caspar Glyn QC assumed the terror he felt before appearing in court was...

Nov 8 2013 9:19am

‘There are moments in court when you wish the ground would swallow you up’

9-12 Bell Yard head of chambers Mukul Chawla QC wishes he’d been able to make...

Nov 1 2013 11:09am

‘The painful truth is that there’s a lot of apathy and incompetence in the workplace’

Leading general counsel Tom Kilroy has, over time, learned to combine open-mindedness with a hard-headed...

Oct 18 2013 10:40am

‘Although the choices you make in your twenties matter, they are rarely life threatening’

Barrister-turned-cartoonist Alex Williams feared expulsion when he cheated on a piece of work that his...

Oct 11 2013 11:04am

‘This generation of lawyers has been unbelievably lucky…the next will pay the price unless they heed the signs’

Karl Chapman, the chief executive of one of the most well-known new legal businesses, Riverview...

Oct 4 2013 11:27am

‘This generation of lawyers has been unbelievably lucky…the next will pay the price unless they heed the signs’

Karl Chapman, the chief executive of one of the most well-known new legal businesses, Riverview...

Oct 4 2013 11:27am

‘I didn’t get tenancy after my first pupillage, or my second or third’

After Catherine Rowlands’ first chambers’ Tooks-style collapse, a spell in the regions working in magistrates’...

Sep 27 2013 9:38am

‘If you forget that everything can be taken away from you at a moment’s notice, you’ll be in trouble’

In a line of work that’s not exactly secure, it’s helpful to gain early experience...

Sep 20 2013 11:03am

‘If you forget that everything can be taken away from you at a moment’s notice, you’ll be in trouble’

In a line of work that’s not exactly secure, it’s helpful to gain early experience...

Sep 20 2013 11:03am

‘No I don’t want to take that file home this weekend, why don’t you do it Mr Head of Department?’

UCL legal academic Richard Moorhead wonders if his rocky spell in private practice would have...

Sep 13 2013 11:19am

‘I became distracted by targets, billing hours and rates’

Having strived for years to get there, Andrew Sharpe found that the salesman function of...

Sep 6 2013 9:35am