Mini Pupillage account

In order to avoid the questioning of undoubtedly one of the best cross-examiners at the Bar, he decided to answer Mr Gardiner's first question (and I use 'answer' very loosely) by reeling off a long 10-minute speech about nothing to do with the question, in the hope that that would 'scare off' Mr Gardiner's questions, but it did far from that.

His 'speech' was deemed “interesting” by Mr Gardiner, who went on to say “if you answer my question in future, you and I will get on a lot better” which really did knock this guy for six and who miraculously became rather cooperative all of a sudden. It was moments like these which were the exciting ones and ones which we'd become to expect of Mr Gardiner, due to his expertise and effortless ability to cross-examine in these areas. 

Each day started as it finished, with a meeting with instructing solicitors, witnesses and the clients at the hotel just off of Bedford Square and then a walk back to Chambers with Mr Gardiner and Mr Walford. It was these walks – morning and evening – which allowed me converse a lot with Mr Gardiner and to really get some tips and advice about joining the Tax Bar and also getting an insight into his opinions on a wide-range of matters, from tax increases to the set up of the German legal system.

I found him to be a very interesting man, who was also highly willing to dispense advice to me and who was also most obliging when being asked certain questions which were typical of an aspiring barrister and he even went to the extent of allowing me a meeting with him on my last evening to have a chat about the Tax Bar, becoming a barrister, etc. 

It was a highly valuable experience and one that has cemented my desire to become a barrister and especially one who practices at the Tax Bar. It's an area which requires much analytical skill, is ever-changing and is also a field in which one is able to leave one's 'stamp' in the common law, by getting to the crux of a matter, bringing it before a court of law and arguing a particular point of interpretation which can affect the application of the law and hence the whole nature and success of a particular Act.

Some may say that being a tax barrister doesn't really uphold justice in its truest sense, but I beg to differ. How is it then just to take money off of hard working people, who have earnt it in an honest way, on the premise of an incorrect interpretation of the law or on the basis of a law which is manifestly unjust?

Of course tax is a necessary entity within a society and no-one is seeking to argue contrary to that, but it cannot be right for somebody to be liable to pay tax on say, something they've paid tax on already, on an interpretation of the law which would lead to bizarre and unjust results, nor on the premise of a law which contravenes international law or any other principle of law.

The same of course goes for the flip-side, where people illegally fail to pay what is due of them, as we're all liable to pay tax dependent on our financial status. Without tax we wouldn't have a state; then where would we be? Where's the justice then?

What have I been up to since then? Well, I've been rushed off of my feet for the last few weeks, which is partly due to the fact that I missed 4 days of uni serving the aforementioned mini-pupillage in London.

Well, as I'm sure many of you have also done, I was rushing to get my BPTC (as the BVC will be called as of September) scholarship application in to the Middle Temple (where I'm a member) in time for the deadline which was 6^th November. I, being somebody who sometimes misjudges the amount of time I have, rushed to get my application off to them and was at the local library at 20 to 4 (deadline being 4pm) on the Friday afternoon waiting for the form to be faxed through to them.

The fax machine at home had gone kaputt as I was attempting to fax through the form, which lead me to believe that someone had it in for me. In the end however, after 10 attempts at ringing through, due to it being engaged, my form was faxed through and received 10 minutes before the deadline. Now isn't that lawyer-like?! Ha! 

The following week was also a busy one at Cardiff University, as we had our annual law fair, which many international law firms and local barristers' chambers attended. It made for a busy day for the Law Society, due to the fact that we had to be there to welcome the firms to the City Hall, show them the ropes and get them all set up in time for the 11am kick-off. It was, in some respects, a successful event, thwarted only by the rather low attendance by our students, which has angered many organisers of the event.

It does strike me as being rather odd, that in a time in which we're experiencing an unprecedented economic crash and where the job market has become respectively more challenging, students fail to go to events such as the law fair to learn about the people they're aspiring to apply to and hence gain invaluable information as to what they're looking for. Perhaps the answer to this will be revealed by the online survey that is currently being circulated. We'll see.

Aside from these events, we've had a busy time with lectures, tutorials, etc and we've also been putting the final touches to our Law Society hoodies/polos (which, all being well, should be with me this evening) and preparing for our annual trip, which is this year going to Edinburgh. We're setting off tomorrow evening and should then be in Edinburgh early Friday morning (yes, we're going by coach), but it's sure to be an amazing weekend, as we've got a lot planned.

We're visiting the Court of Session, the Scottish Parliament, the Edinburgh Dungeons, we're of course going out clubbing and sampling the local produce, whiskey. How it all went shall of course follow in the next instalment to this blog, which I'm sure you're all staunch readers of.

Have a good week and weekend and I'll check in with you all soon!