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I have taken it upon myself to sign up to do some pro-bono, as well as get involved with mooting at my Inn, which stands to be an experience to say the least. Before you can embark upon a career at the Bar you have to join one of the four Inn’s – Lincoln’s, Gray’s, Middle Temple or Inner Temple. The one you choose is entirely a personal choice – I chose mine because I loved the building, I appreciated the setting, and the security man on the door was very nice. I’ll report back after my moot when I will probably be recovering from the onset of nervous shock. Thankfully though, I now know who to sue in such a situation. Ah well, every cloud and all that.

On top of all of the work, the extra-curricular legal options and other things like eating and sleeping, we also have to do 12 ‘Qualifying Sessions’ with our Inn to be eligible to be called to the Bar (i.e. become a Barrister). Coming to a ‘Qualifying Session’ essentially means that we have to dine, attend lectures or go to legal workshops.

The strange world of the Barrister comes to life at the Inn, and I must admit I do enjoy being part of it all when I attend a session. For me it was part of the attraction of becoming a barrister – all of the tradition, pomp and splendour, as well as feeling really quite important when you are in Hall (heeled shoes really do make quite a good noise on the wood flooring). For others, however, it is more pompous and pretentious than anything else. These people are usually the disinterested ones in the corner, but who probably possess exceptional degrees (and/or good luck) so don’t need to care. But at least the food is good, and that can’t be denied by anyone.

So term goes on and I have noticed the definite correlation between exhaustion and competence; often on a Friday afternoon after a long week we all descend into mild hysteria and advocacy becomes more than a little entertaining. I have since discovered that, ‘I submit that the Defendant is a massive tea leaf, your honour’ is not a submission readily accepted in court. It was definitely worth a try though, if not just to see the look on our tutor’s face.

I’m guessing you’re at BPP then as the “work” I had to do at ICSL (as it then was) didn’t take much more than a couple of hours a day… I still passed!