Journey to being a barrister

Hi all! I have firmed Bristol University to study law. I've been told that it's important to get stuck in with things as early on as possible, with wanting to be a commercial barrister (my end goal).

I know people say year 1 isn't important as it doesn't count towards your final grade, but was wondering, what is my best course of action? Should I aim to maximise learning/study time to aim for a top first, or should I try and do as many extra curriculars, moots, debates, organising events, etc as possible? Or is getting a top first more important?

Also, slightly more specific, I know many people apply to SPARK schemes or VS's in the summer after first year, however, a barrister I spoke to said that industry related work experience is crucial. Would I be better off, some time, applying to an internship at investment bank or maybe some financial sector work experience/government sector work experience, to help stand out as much as possible when it comes to the Bar/pupillage period?

Many thanks :smile:

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 1

Blayze

8

The below is tailored to the commerical chancery bar, which is slightly different but ultimately does require most of the same things since the work is very very similar between the two.

Firstly university:

1. A first will greatly help you and is probably necessary, but a "top" first is not particularly going to assist you; for one thing you don't normally have to disclose your end degree score and with the way different universities weigh different subjects and things, the end "number" is much less important than the end classification (possibly different if its a 2:1).

2. You want to be a well-rounded applicant, so doing some societies and things you are interested is good. Equally, you don't get your university experience again - there is nothing wrong with making things a bit less frenetic and just applying later. Enjoy your time there. You absolutely will have to do some mooting or public speaking at some point though, so fitting that in at university is often easier with the things they run like novice moots, or just having people email you about external moots which are coming up.

3. Industry work experience is absolutely not crucial. Legal industry work experience is. Even somewhere like the commerical bar, you do too big a range of cases for specific industry experience to help you. It isn't just banking stuff, it will be generic breaches of contract, company law disputes, aviation (possibly), building issues, loans, etc etc.

Original post by Blayze

2. You want to be a well-rounded applicant

Agree with this entire post, but I just wanted to emphasise this, because the original post gives the impression that you think that there is a defined set of boxes you need to tick and one perfect way to go about ticking them. That isn't the case. There are certain things that need on your application form, and certain things that will really help if you can get on them on there, but ultimately your ability to write a good application and then come across well in interview does require (in my view at least) you to be a well rounded applicant beyond simply someone who has managed good grades and done some relevant work experience. It is really important that you have your own interests, and that you pursue experiences outside of what might be strictly relevant to a pupillage application, and that's because whilst it might not be strictly relevant to a pupillage application or interview, it all goes into the type of person that you come across as in interview. People with well rounded life experience, and who can display insight and maturity not just in a legal context but beyond it, tend to come across well in pupillage recruitment exercises, or at least they stand a better chance of doing so.

So the answer to what you should focus on is that you should, to a degree, balance things and focus on everything. You can get a First whilst doing relevant legal work experience (mooting, mini pupillages, marshalling etc) and pursuing your own interests. University is ultimately also about you maturing as an individual, experiencing new things generally and finding out who you are. That is a really important process for anything that you go on to do, and you do absolutely need to make time for it as well.

Reply 3

RetroSPECT3.0

OP

15

Original post by Blayze

The below is tailored to the commerical chancery bar, which is slightly different but ultimately does require most of the same things since the work is very very similar between the two.

Firstly university:

1. A first will greatly help you and is probably necessary, but a "top" first is not particularly going to assist you; for one thing you don't normally have to disclose your end degree score and with the way different universities weigh different subjects and things, the end "number" is much less important than the end classification (possibly different if its a 2:1).

2. You want to be a well-rounded applicant, so doing some societies and things you are interested is good. Equally, you don't get your university experience again - there is nothing wrong with making things a bit less frenetic and just applying later. Enjoy your time there. You absolutely will have to do some mooting or public speaking at some point though, so fitting that in at university is often easier with the things they run like novice moots, or just having people email you about external moots which are coming up.

3. Industry work experience is absolutely not crucial. Legal industry work experience is. Even somewhere like the commerical bar, you do too big a range of cases for specific industry experience to help you. It isn't just banking stuff, it will be generic breaches of contract, company law disputes, aviation (possibly), building issues, loans, etc etc.

Thank you Blayze! I suppose I was under the impression that gaining some corporate work exp. like at an aviation, construction, and banking/finance/insurance firms (to cover a few bases- nothing much maybe 3-5) could help me stand out, but I suppose, the returns maybe aren't worth it?

I guess the trade off isn't worth it to go for a 'top of the year' first at the expense of devoting more time to mooting or other extra curriculars. I suppose the main undercurrent of my post is what the best way to stand out is/what in your experience haven't most applicants done? I was thinking along the lines of mooting, and I have reached a national final before however that was in sixth form. Should I aim to continue this successful string of mooting?

Also, finally, how is the University of Bristol viewed by London civil/commercial/chancery sets? I understand they really want to hammer down the point of 'academic excellence', so would it be best to also think about (in the future) the BCL/Cambridge LLM?

Thanks for your comment again- I appreciate that I'm thinking about this quite early on but I really do want a solid game plan as I understand just how brutally competitive this career is!

Journey to being a barrister

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