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Barrister - Oxbridge necessary?

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http://www.derwentchambers.co.uk/anthony_finch.html - these chambers feature a barrister who went to Manchester Metropolitan University not so long ago.

http://www.suttontrust.com/reports/Comparison_educational_backgrounds.pdf - this is a long, yet interesting read about the education backgrounds of barristers, judges and partners at Magic Circle firms.

Reply 21

Stealth-Mode

you missed Wolverhampton poly...now THAT is a feat....

But totally different league of chambers...completely

Reply 22

mariad

Yes but the OP asked whether Oxbridge was necessary to be a barrister, not whether Oxbridge was necessary to be a barrister at the so-called 'top' chambers.

fair doos

mariad

Taken from the Blackstone Chambers website: What about The Hounourable Michael J Beloff Q.C. who achieved a first in law and a first history; both degrees being from Oxford Uni.
Robert Englehart has a LLM from Harvard AND an MA from Oxford
Maurice Mendelson has a 1st from Oxford, an MA and a D.Phil

Just wondered, after seeing the prevalence of post-grad degrees on that website, were post-grad degrees free in the 60s/70s/80s, like the under-grad degrees were.

I should point out the Oxbridge MAs are not real ones, you get them automatically (on payment of a nominal fee) after a certain time period and I think they represent becoming official members of the universities' voting bodies or something like that. At Oxford at least, masters degrees tend to be things like Mst or MPhil.

Reply 25

NDGAARONDI

Danny_777

Blackstone Chambers.

http://www.blackstonechambers.com/staff.asp

The CVs there are actually insane.

There's even a guy in Wilberforce Chambers who topped his year at Oxford in both his undergradute Law degree AND the BCL :eek:

...

Yeah I saw that. Made me laugh when I remembered some of the comments aorund here a few years ago. We had quite a few people from the likes of Sheffield, Birmingham etc who'd exaggerate the difference in quality to those going to Brunel, Queen Mary etc mean while stating the difference between themselves and Oxbridge, Durham etc isn't as big as people think it is.

Reply 26

naivesincerity

No, not at all, there are tons of people qualifying from former polys even who get to be barristers.

Reply 27

Danny_777

mariad

Ivan Hare has degrees from London, Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge, while Iain Steel has a TRIPLE first class from Cambridge and a First Class BCL :s-smilie:

This page makes me weep :frown:

Reply 28

Teebs

Danny_777

Ivan Hare has degrees from London, Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge, while Iain Steel has a TRIPLE first class from Cambridge and a First Class BCL :s-smilie:

This page makes me weep :frown:

Don't triple firsts from Cambridge just mean you got a first in your exams all three years?

Reply 29

Teebs

Well a triple starred first is certainly impressive but a double/triple first isn't that much more so than a normal first.

Reply 30

Simon Myerson QC

The answer to the question is 'no'.

Having intellectual capacity helps. A lot.

However, it does not, in my view, help as much as the 'top sets' (i.e. those doing commercial, public and human rights law to an extent which means that is all they really do) say it does. It is their USP and is to be viewed in that light.

Nor is intellectual capacity demonstrated solely by University or degree. Plenty of people mature later than those rather arbitrary snapshots would allow for.

Because grade inflation actually exists, a first is now much more important than it was. That is because almost everyone has a 2:1. Only 3 people with 2:2s got a pupillage last year. The alternative is to do something else first and then requalify in the hope that your real life achievements will compensate for perceived educational under-achievement. That is sad for would-be barristers but it is an inevitable consequence of the 'everyone must have prizes' philosophy.

Within limits I would go where the first is. Educationally, being a big fish in a small pond is unhelpful. In terms of your career, it is probably a good thing. That such a dichotomy exists is a disgrace but that's the system - so play it.

Reply 31

Danny_777

Solemn Wanderer

That's precisely what they mean. There was some weirdo called ledzep4eva

:p:

Solemn Wanderer

who said, as I recall, that he was interviewed at Corpus by a guy who had a triple starred first - namely, a starred first in each of the three years.

Yup. Nigel Simmonds.

Reply 32

Chruchill

Barrister - Law Degree Necessary? I haven't really seen (m)any Barristers on those sites that have done the GDL. Does that mean it is more or less a requirement for some chambers to have done a law degree?

Edit: And you know what, don't even answer, seems that as soon as I say it I find loads. :smile:

Well it depends on the chambers actually, at Blackstone there are quite a lot from non-law backgrounds, but at Essex Court there are hardly any.

Reply 33

Danny_777

Actually, it doesn't look like Nigel Simmonds did get a triple first... looks like I'm wrong :frown:

Reply 34

PDJM

A law degree is not essential for Essex Court, one of the current pupils has taken the GDL.

Reply 35

Danny_777

A law degree isn't necessary for any chambers.

Reply 36

Qlick

We had a barrister at one of our school career evenings, he reckoned that you had no chance if you didn't go to a Russell group university, but didn't say Oxbridge was necessary.

Reply 37

mariad

Wow, he sounds cheery.

Reply 38

PDJM

Danny_777

A law degree isn't necessary for any chambers.

That wasn't the question: the implication was that for one particular Chambers it was an unofficial requirement- the fact given was to refute that particular belief. I would not want good candidates interested in commercial law not to apply to that particular Chambers on an erroneous basis. I cannot speak from knowledge for all Chambers.

Technically speaking even a degree is not necessary for the Bar, there is also the Non-Graduate Mature Student route which is rarely invoked. It requires the candidate to have obtained such academic and vocational qualifications as the Masters of the Bench may consider equivalent to a Degree, or to have attained such standard of general education as the Masters of the Bench may consider sufficient.