Mature Student:BPTC-(Is it time to let the dream go?)

Hi, really grateful for honest advice.

I have a first degree in Education & PGDL completed in 2015. Also had a place to start BPTC the same year but due to circumstances was unable to. Subsequently and reluctantly I put the dream to bed.

Fast forward to 2024, I’m now 50, my circumstances have changed and the dream has returned.

Owing that my PGDL is out of date, and the route I’d need to take for BPTC/LLM is a career at the bar a realistic expectation given my age now?

Thank you

Reply 1

Stiffy Byng

It would not be impossible but it would be difficult. I know a bloke who had a career in TV and became a barrister in his late forties, but he did not stay at the Bar for long. I know two people who started at the Bar rising forty and are now in Silk.

Age discrimination is unlawful, but it is hard to prove. People can always find a plausible reason for preferring the younger candidate.

Could you afford to live on a low income for several years? If you could obtain a tenancy, it would probably take you a while to get going in practice. Do you have a stellar academic profile? You would have to persuade chambers that you are a better bet than the 25 year old with a First in Law from Cambridge and an LLM from Harvard.

In your favour, life experience is valued at the Bar. A barrister's main sellable commodity is judgment.

It is perhaps odd that barristers should think about the posterity of their chambers, because our businesses are personal and we can never cash out, but we do think of the future of our chambers, and some (not I) might say "we want someone who will be here for the next half century, not someone who will be here for maybe fifteen years or so".

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 2

msella

Original post by Stiffy Byng

It would not be impossible but it would be difficult. I know a bloke who had a career in TV and became a barrister in his late forties, but he did not stay at the Bar for long. I know two people who started at the Bar rising forty and are now in Silk.
Age discrimination is unlawful, but it is hard to prove. People can always find a plausible reason for preferring the younger candidate.
Could you afford to live on a low income for several years? If you could obtain a tenancy, it would probably take you a while to get going in practice. Do you have a stellar academic profile? You would have to persuade chambers that you are a better bet than the 25 year old with a First in Law from Cambridge and an LLM from Harvard.
In your favour, life experience is valued at the Bar. A barrister's main sellable commodity is judgment.
It is perhaps odd that barristers should think about the posterity of their chambers, because our businesses are personal and we can never cash out, but we do think of the future of our chambers, and some (not I) might say "we want someone who will be here for the next half century, not someone who will be here for maybe fifteen years or so".

Thank you for your honest response. Much appreciated

Reply 3

Stiffy Byng

On the upside, those who start at the Bar later in life can sometimes get a good start, because solicitors, lay clients, and judges may assume (sometimes correctly) that the grey hairs mean better judgment. The older person looks the part. I drum up commercial litigation work on business trips to South East Asia by looking and sounding like a mature Westerner with a posh-sounding voice, the right clothes, and a few words of Latin. Old barrister must be wise barrister, right?