A little ray of winter sunshine - I was fortunate enough to win "Post of the Week" on the wonderful new forums at All About Law. This is a website, strangely enough, all about the legal education process, from A levels through to Articles (alright, Training Contract, but it's not alliterative...) with information on University degrees, non-law graduate conversion, Bar & Solicitor routes etc.
Well worth a visit, and do pop into the forums, they are a growing repository of anecdotal information, which is the best kind in a profession which is still unique and for which there are no formulae to be learnt by rote to guarantee entry.
14 December, 2009
12 November, 2009
Just a brief update to try to discipline myself regarding this blog and my infrequent posting habits.
I have noticed a bit of a gap in the blawgosphere regarding actual experiences of pupillage. There is either the general hints and tips page or the outright fictional hilarity of BabyB.
My own pupillage is due to start (so the letter tells me) in October 2010. I will not go into massive detail regarding how I got it because I'm of the opinion that it is irrelevant. No two Chambers are the same and nor are any two applicants. Unfortunately it is a combination of luck, ability and knowledge which will determine who is successful at obtaining pupillage; and there is at least one very fine blawg already published dealing with it - see the list to the right.
I intend to explain - when the time comes - the following:
> What one actually does on a daily basis as a pupil at the Criminal Bar
> How much it costs (although with the overarching caveat that your mileage may vary)
> What one needs in order to accomplish the task
These last two sections are, I feel, particularly important since I know of people who rushed out and bought wigs etc. without realising just how little they would use them. Equally, I know of those who went into their pupillage with two different coloured bics and a half used blue Counsel's notebook only to discover that the majority of their pupilmaster's case was based on electronically formatted documents etc. and had to hastily find a laptop.
The BVC is arguably structured to prepare you academically for the work of pupillage, whilst I have decided to try to pitch this blawg so that it offers pointers as to how you can equip yourself for the physical day to day work. Obviously, this is a long time away and I may make a host of mistakes when I do eventually start, but if that helps another to avoid the same problem my aim shall have been achieved.
I have noticed a bit of a gap in the blawgosphere regarding actual experiences of pupillage. There is either the general hints and tips page or the outright fictional hilarity of BabyB.
My own pupillage is due to start (so the letter tells me) in October 2010. I will not go into massive detail regarding how I got it because I'm of the opinion that it is irrelevant. No two Chambers are the same and nor are any two applicants. Unfortunately it is a combination of luck, ability and knowledge which will determine who is successful at obtaining pupillage; and there is at least one very fine blawg already published dealing with it - see the list to the right.
I intend to explain - when the time comes - the following:
> What one actually does on a daily basis as a pupil at the Criminal Bar
> How much it costs (although with the overarching caveat that your mileage may vary)
> What one needs in order to accomplish the task
These last two sections are, I feel, particularly important since I know of people who rushed out and bought wigs etc. without realising just how little they would use them. Equally, I know of those who went into their pupillage with two different coloured bics and a half used blue Counsel's notebook only to discover that the majority of their pupilmaster's case was based on electronically formatted documents etc. and had to hastily find a laptop.
The BVC is arguably structured to prepare you academically for the work of pupillage, whilst I have decided to try to pitch this blawg so that it offers pointers as to how you can equip yourself for the physical day to day work. Obviously, this is a long time away and I may make a host of mistakes when I do eventually start, but if that helps another to avoid the same problem my aim shall have been achieved.
17 October, 2009
08 October, 2009
Any regular* readers will notice two new things on the Blog.
1. This post.
2. A couple of new links in the elegantly titled Blogroll.
This is because I have been enjoying the delights of cycling related blogging.
Since taking part in the Mayor of London's "Skyride" I have been looking into the increasing number of 'retro' or 'classic' cycling blogs; these celebrate the notion that just because one is using a bike does not lead to becoming a lycra-clad berk with a red face, bulging calves and excess amounts of raging bile for ALL other road users.
The lovely people at both sites also have a healthy admiration for Pashleys, which, as an owner of a Roadster Classic, I have to praise.
In the fullness of time I intend to post a more thorough run-down of my thoughts on my bike and how it has altered both my view of London and my waistline. The delightful lady at Lovely Bicycle! has already posted a number of very helpful reviews regarding her Princess "Eustacia Vye" and I hope to borrow from her style of writing, which I find very pleasant to read and instructive in its content.
To be continued...
* This is of course impossible, as I am not a regular blogger and I doubt any real person reads this drivel. (I know the spambots love it though - hullo to you by the way, please can I have some more lovely email about my EU lottery win and the money from that nice Nigerian cabinet minister?)
1. This post.
2. A couple of new links in the elegantly titled Blogroll.
This is because I have been enjoying the delights of cycling related blogging.
Since taking part in the Mayor of London's "Skyride" I have been looking into the increasing number of 'retro' or 'classic' cycling blogs; these celebrate the notion that just because one is using a bike does not lead to becoming a lycra-clad berk with a red face, bulging calves and excess amounts of raging bile for ALL other road users.
The lovely people at both sites also have a healthy admiration for Pashleys, which, as an owner of a Roadster Classic, I have to praise.
In the fullness of time I intend to post a more thorough run-down of my thoughts on my bike and how it has altered both my view of London and my waistline. The delightful lady at Lovely Bicycle! has already posted a number of very helpful reviews regarding her Princess "Eustacia Vye" and I hope to borrow from her style of writing, which I find very pleasant to read and instructive in its content.
To be continued...
* This is of course impossible, as I am not a regular blogger and I doubt any real person reads this drivel. (I know the spambots love it though - hullo to you by the way, please can I have some more lovely email about my EU lottery win and the money from that nice Nigerian cabinet minister?)
16 July, 2009
OLPAS is here once again, or more correctly: The Pupillage Portal has opened!
Sounds a lot more exciting but is in fact the same painful process of form filling...
I had managed to get another interview with the Chambers who shortlisted me last Autumn, however I was pipped by a cohort of clearly better applicants after only the first round. This is very frustrating to say the least, and leaves me waiting on two more Chambers to even offer an interview and another to see if I have a second round place.
My thoughts have therefore turned again to the possibility of a life outside the legal world. My penchant for titbits of knowledge on almost any topic would suggest a career in a literary capacity such as editing, although I understand that it is about as hard as getting pupillage. The clergy is another area of interest, which would also indulge my enjoyment of language and study for the sake of knowledge alone. Finally, and frankly least likely, the Army offers a number of opportunities albeit alongside the risk of injury and in extremis - death.
If neither the general malaise of OLPAS rejections nor swine flu carry me off I hope to post a follow up explaining the outcome of this year's Great Pupillage Grab.
Sounds a lot more exciting but is in fact the same painful process of form filling...
I had managed to get another interview with the Chambers who shortlisted me last Autumn, however I was pipped by a cohort of clearly better applicants after only the first round. This is very frustrating to say the least, and leaves me waiting on two more Chambers to even offer an interview and another to see if I have a second round place.
My thoughts have therefore turned again to the possibility of a life outside the legal world. My penchant for titbits of knowledge on almost any topic would suggest a career in a literary capacity such as editing, although I understand that it is about as hard as getting pupillage. The clergy is another area of interest, which would also indulge my enjoyment of language and study for the sake of knowledge alone. Finally, and frankly least likely, the Army offers a number of opportunities albeit alongside the risk of injury and in extremis - death.
If neither the general malaise of OLPAS rejections nor swine flu carry me off I hope to post a follow up explaining the outcome of this year's Great Pupillage Grab.
19 May, 2009
It has been quite some time since I last posted and a number of things have happened, in no particular order:
1) I have continued to battle through training and I now take a number of courts solo.
2) I continue to battle with the trains in order to get to work and constantly rail (pardon the shocker of a pun) against the outrageous cost of season tickets.
3) I am having to fight quite hard against a growing desire to jack it all in and return to my native county's quiet green lanes, where I will be forced to live in penury having no idea of what else to do for a living...
The impetus for this new post - potentially heralding a return to more regular blogging - is my growing frustration with interpreting and following statutory amendments. Have no fear that I have gone all geeky and academic, the anger has a very political basis. Put simply, since New Labour gained power there have been an astonishing number of hideous pieces of legislation, most notably in Criminal Law with the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and the new Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. I'm sure any lawyer can reel off a handful of Acts they'd like to see ceremonially burnt and those two are at the top of my list!
Currently I am working through some sentencing training exercises provided by the well-meaning people of the Judicial Studies Board for Legal Advisers. The problem I face now is regarding the imposition of community penalties for non-imprisonable offences, or more correctly, the problem I face is that the CJIA 08 purports to alter some parts of the CJA 03. The parts of the 03 Act are not in force yet, rendering the 08 amendments entirely pointless! For goodness' sake, who comes up with this crap!?
It seems to me to be a prime example of incompetent people (read: ministers) desperately trying to justify their existence (and in the case of Parliamentary draftsmen their enormous salaries). If only the Govt. would stop reacting to every press report with knee-jerks which would make an SS trooper green with envy, then the chances of correctly sentencing a given person for their crime would be far greater.
But enough procrastination for now...
1) I have continued to battle through training and I now take a number of courts solo.
2) I continue to battle with the trains in order to get to work and constantly rail (pardon the shocker of a pun) against the outrageous cost of season tickets.
3) I am having to fight quite hard against a growing desire to jack it all in and return to my native county's quiet green lanes, where I will be forced to live in penury having no idea of what else to do for a living...
The impetus for this new post - potentially heralding a return to more regular blogging - is my growing frustration with interpreting and following statutory amendments. Have no fear that I have gone all geeky and academic, the anger has a very political basis. Put simply, since New Labour gained power there have been an astonishing number of hideous pieces of legislation, most notably in Criminal Law with the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and the new Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. I'm sure any lawyer can reel off a handful of Acts they'd like to see ceremonially burnt and those two are at the top of my list!
Currently I am working through some sentencing training exercises provided by the well-meaning people of the Judicial Studies Board for Legal Advisers. The problem I face now is regarding the imposition of community penalties for non-imprisonable offences, or more correctly, the problem I face is that the CJIA 08 purports to alter some parts of the CJA 03. The parts of the 03 Act are not in force yet, rendering the 08 amendments entirely pointless! For goodness' sake, who comes up with this crap!?
It seems to me to be a prime example of incompetent people (read: ministers) desperately trying to justify their existence (and in the case of Parliamentary draftsmen their enormous salaries). If only the Govt. would stop reacting to every press report with knee-jerks which would make an SS trooper green with envy, then the chances of correctly sentencing a given person for their crime would be far greater.
But enough procrastination for now...
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