Lincoln's Inn Visit 2013 - Queen's University Belfast

Accessing the Bar in England: A Summary of the Lincoln’s Inn Law Visit 2013
By Kevin Monaghan
(L-R: Jessica Wolseley, Aaron Gallagher, Eoin McGarrity, Matthew Hunt, Kevin Monaghan, Mark Hayward,
Lauren O’Sullivan, Dimitrios Doukas, Scott McWhinney and Grainne Lee outside Lincoln’s Inn)
Every member of the group sensed the weight of history around us as we walked under the
majestic Lincoln’s Inn gate and passed the characteristically red-bricked Old Square. Dwarfing
those of its northern neighbour Gray’s Inn, the grounds of Lincoln’s Inn are a green sanctuary
secluded within the heart of the metropolitan. At the far end of the grounds stood the Great Hall,
resembling a red-brick monastery flanked by the spindly branches of trees sheltering from the
winter cold.
Inside the Inn, the walls were literally dripping with history. Portraits of Margaret Thatcher, Lord
Denning and Sir Robert Megarry – royalty to us law students and all previous benchers of
Lincoln’s Inn - observed passively as we made our way towards the Hall. Walking through the
entrance the Great Hall grew before us, with wooden arches on either side reaching upwards to
greet one another between antique stained-glass windows that loomed over the chamber. Above
the entrance a vast mural spanned almost entirety of the inner wall, depicting various law-makers
through the centuries.
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Upon entering the Great Hall each student was given a unique number printed on a piece of
paper, and only during (the Inn’s Treasurer) Joanna Robinson’s speech did we actually discover
what they were for. We were all asked to stand, representing two-hundred would-be barristers.
Scores of students were asked to sit down as their number was called, representing those who
fail to secure pupillage, tenancy, or a place on the BPTC every year. In the end no more than
twenty students remained standing - a harrowing reminder of the fierce competition faced by
prospective barristers.
The speakers were at pains to stress that this was not a recruitment exercise, but rather a series of
informative talks with a recurrent theme; the odds are stacked against you, but for the most able
and determined the rewards are great. Geoffrey Tattershall QC alleviated that securing a
scholarship from one of the Inns is an appropriate test of a candidate’s suitability. Above all,
speakers stressed the folly of undertaking the BPTC without having first secured a pupillage.
Greg Callus helpfully noted the one year waiting period between securing your pupillage and
actually starting it, advising students to take advantage of the gap by undertaking the BPTC in
that year.
Ravi Nayer spoke on life at the employed Bar. Self-employment is not for everyone and the
employed Bar can offer numerous advantages, such as increased financial security (which is
particularly enticing during one’s early years as a barrister), pension plans and sick pay. 20% of
barristers in England and Wales are employed by private companies or in government legal
services. A former History student who converted to Law through the GDL, Nayer was an
encouraging example to those students currently undertaking a post-graduate conversion course
to law. Also of notable mention was Matthew Hellens, who after a stunning introduction ran
through his ten top tips for budding barristers, balancing the humorous and the informative for a
compelling discourse and demonstrating a genuine love for the job: “I have the best job in the
world”.
During the delicious three-course meal students had the opportunity to talk to members of the
Inn who were intentionally interspersed between tables. By all accounts, the members were very
welcoming and friendly, chatting and openly answering any queries the students had. For their
part students took advantage of the chance to pick the brains of experts in fields ranging from
commercial law to criminal law and everything in between.
We extend our thanks to Lincoln’s Inn for such an invaluable experience. Indeed students may
have been just as much dissuaded by the statistics as they were persuaded as the barristers’ own
passion. Either way, the visit did all any student could ask, giving us a clearer vision of the route
from university to the Bar as well as an honest reflection on what it takes to reach that goal.
Finally we would like to thank Dr. Doukas, who led the visit and whose company was greatly
appreciated.
Kevin Monaghan, 3 rd year student, LLB Honours Common and Civil Law with French,
QUB School of Law
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(L-R: Rebecca McKinty, Jessica Wolseley, Matthew Hunt, Lauren O’Sullivan, Aaron Gallagher and Eoin
McGarrity in the Lincoln’s Inn Great Hall)
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Trip to Lincoln’s Inn (21-22 March 2013)
By Lauren O’Sullivan
(L-R: Jessica Wolseley, Eoin McGarrity, Matthew Hunt, Kevin Monaghan, Mark Hayward, Lauren
O’Sullivan, Dimitrios Doukas, Scott McWhinney and Grainne Lee outside Lincoln’s Inn)
The weather was freezing, the bodies were tired but the excitement was palpable as we
assembled at 4.45am at George Best Airport for our scheduled flight to London. Ten students
from across the School of Law were selected to visit Lincoln’s Inn, one of the four Inns of Court
in the jurisdiction of England and Wales, for an information session and formal dinner. We
came from different programmes, we were different ages but we shared a common interest: we
were all curious about becoming a barrister in England.
We arrived in London and took the Gatwick Express into Victoria. We used the travelling time
to bond: I learned that some students were absolutely committed to life at the Bar and were
simply trying to decide between Northern Ireland and England; while others, like myself, were
using the opportunity of a more-or-less fully funded trip to decide if the Bar was the right path at
all. In my dream scenario I would like to do a PhD and be an academic (don’t judge, some
people like writing essays!), but I felt that I should check out all the available options. As a
mature student, I wanted to be absolutely sure that my next career move would be the right one.
It was reassuring to learn that many other students weren’t really sure of where they wanted to
go post-degree either!
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Trying to finagle ten tired students and their luggage through a busy train station, ensuring that
we bought the right Oyster Cards, found the right tube line and got off at the right stop was no
mean feat, and Dr Doukas deserves plaudits for his calmness and grace under fire. Any of you
who have been to London will know that there aren’t many leafy suburbs, but the Goodenough
Club, where we were staying for the night, was in one such place: it overlooked one of those
private residents’ gardens in the middle of the square (which those of you of a certain age, and of
a romantic disposition, will recognise from Notting Hill). After a quick breakfast down the road
and despite some initial issues checking-in, which our astute leader handled with aplomb, we
were shown to spacious and comfortable rooms, and took an hour off to relax and get ready for
the big event, a ten-minute walk away in Lincoln’s Inn.
The first thought I had upon seeing Lincoln’s Inn was “it’s like a bigger version of Queens!” The
red brick looked a lot like home and any of you who have spent time in the Lanyon Building will
easily imagine the environ we were in. We were invited into a busy and buzzing reception area.
Students from schools of law all over the country had been invited to attend, and about 200 had
done so, though it was with some pride that we discovered that we had travelled the furthest.
We were then hustled into a massive Great Hall-esque room for an information session on Life
at the Bar with a variety of speakers. First though: a game designed to demonstrate the chances
of securing a place at the Bar, which I won’t explain in detail as it might ruin the fun for those of
you who go next year. Those of you who know incoming Law Society President Eoin McGarrity
will be little surprised to learn that he was the last of our men standing!
The process of becoming a barrister in England is markedly different than in Northern Ireland.
There is no Institute exam, rather you apply to any of the many universities offering the Bar
Professional Training Course (BPTC), and your place is secured solely on your undergraduate
results. There are hundreds of available places (unlike here, where in 2013-2014 the number of
places on the Bar course will be reduced to 20) and a good 2:1 will usually get you in; some
universities will accept a 2:2 or even a third. Though this may seem appealing (no Institute
exam?! Don’t necessarily need to be a clever clogs?! Wa-hey!), there is a major issue with this
system: the Bar Council do not help you to get a ‘pupillage’, so there is no guarantee that once
you have finished your vocational training course (which costs around £17,000) and learned the
skills of becoming a barrister that you will find a mentor to ‘take you out’ and give you
experience in court. You cannot fully qualify as a barrister without a pupillage, competition is
fierce and, as we learned at the information sessions, disappointment abounds. There is a further
drawback to the English Bar: they operate in ‘sets’ or ‘chambers’ and the reality is, even once
fully qualified as a barrister, unless you get taken on as a ‘tenant’ by one of these, it will be very
difficult to get any work.
The speeches started with the Chairman of Lincoln’s Inn telling us that the purpose of the
session was absolutely not to recruit: “we have too many barristers as it is, we just want to make
you aware of the realities of the current Bar before you set your heart on it.” Hmmm, this didn’t
sound encouraging. Things got worse, successive speakers outlined the difficulties facing
barristers, including cuts to Legal Aid and the rise of in-house Solicitor Advocates. An Oxfordeducated
first class graduate is now working as an in-house barrister because he failed to secure a
tenancy post-qualification; a second newly-qualified barrister detailed the forty rejection letters he
received before securing a pupillage. He also proffered some stark statistics: of the approximately
7,000 students who completed the BPTC last year only 350 pupillages were awarded, and even
less tenancies at Chambers. On this analysis, it seems a bleak time to be considering the English
Bar.
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Yet they gave us some valuable advice on how to make your application stand out, which I will
distil into one word: experience. If you are planning a career at the Bar in England, you need to
start looking for a mini-pupillage with a Chambers, preferably in England, now. You need to
start networking and getting your name out there. And I would advise making full use of the
Careers Service, who will not only help you write your applications and CVs but will also arrange
mock interviews. They ended the speeches on a high note, a family law barrister divulging his
‘Top 10 tips for surviving at the bar’, (the first one being always know where the nearest Marks
and Spencer’s is in case you spill coffee on your shirt on the way to court and need a new one)
and reassuring us that if you have enough self-belief and enthusiasm for the law, anyone could
thrive as a barrister.
The speeches were followed by a wine reception and dinner, in which we were assigned places
next to or near Lincoln’s Inn barristers and judges. We were encouraged to network, and to ask
any question we felt necessary to ameliorate our understanding of the Bar. I was sat beside
Justice Patrick O’Neill, a district court judge who specialises in equity, tort and family cases. We
quickly established a connection with Ireland (his parents were Limerick people, as am I) and
chatted easily. He advised not to be too quick to specialise in one area of law: the more fields you
practice in, the more work you will get. I appreciated this practical advice. The food was
excellent, the wine flowed freely and I enjoyed the traditional ‘quirks’ of dining at the Inn, like
the branded crockery and sitting down to toast the Queen (which, though it sounds disrespectful,
has a legitimate story behind it, which I won’t ruin for those of you planning to go next year). At
the end of dinner, Justice O’Neill gave me a business card and encouraged me to get in touch if
I ever wanted to shadow him, which I thought was a lovely gesture. After the port and a bit
more networking with a QC and a newly-appointed High Court judge, we decided to leave
Lincoln’s Inn and decamped to the nearest bar for a debriefing session and a hot toddy.
The reaction to the evening was universally positive, and all were agreed that we had gotten
something out of it. For me, it has highlighted that I probably do not have the enthusiasm and
drive to succeed at the English Bar, though I haven’t yet ruled out the Northern Irish and
Republic Bars and am preparing for the dreaded Institute exam in December. I was impressed
by Lincoln’s Inn, by its surrounds and illustrious history, and I appreciated that they were
brutally honest with us about the current prospects of the Bar. I feel they helped me to make an
informed decision about my future that reading a prospectus or brochure couldn’t have done.
The trip was a lot of fun, and I am delighted I was chosen to be a part of the group representing
the School of Law at this prestigious event. Even a flight cancellation, which resulted in the
majority of the group being stranded in Gatwick for 10 hours with a hangover, while a
snowstorm raged in Belfast, cannot quell my enthusiasm for this trip. Things I learned: don’t
ever ask for caramel sauce to be put on your McFlurry at the Gatwick McDonald’s because they
will not entertain the notion; a £14 food voucher will not go very far at Frankie & Benny’s;
Gatwick does not have sufficient plugs for charging rapidly dying batteries; and good company
and banter can ease the pain of delay and help through even the bumpiest, most turbulent,
flights and landings.
I can’t recommend enough that anyone contemplating the Bar apply to go on this trip next year.
You’ll meet new people, have great craic and it may even help you clarify your future. My thanks
to Lincoln’s Inn, the School of Law and, above all, to Dr Doukas, for arranging the trip, making
it so enjoyable and for taking such good care of us before, during and after.
Lauren O’Sullivan, final year student, Master in Legal Science, QUB School of Law
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(L-R: Rebecca McKinty, Jessica Wolseley, Matthew Hunt, Lauren O’Sullivan, Aaron Gallagher and Eoin
McGarrity in the Lincoln’s Inn Great Hall)
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(L-R: Dimitrios Doukas, Jessica Wolseley and Aaron Gallagher in the Lincoln’s Inn Great Hall)
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