Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #iamthebar
Most recents (3)
#IAmTheBar In response to @sdavieslaw - Is there no future in practising criminal legal aid? Call me a sunny optimist, but I think there is. At the moment, for many people, it is exceptionally difficult to make ends meet. But we're making incremental gains...
#IAmTheBar If things don't improve, quickly, I think there's a very real problem on the horizon. But I remain hopeful. We're making the arguments. Awareness is slowly spreading.
#IAmTheBar I diverge from Chris on this - I think as a matter of principle, it should be possible to make a living doing exclusively criminal legal aid. We wouldn't tell nurses to supplement an insufficient NHS income by doing private work.
#IAmTheBar. A question asked of the panel:
What characteristics are vital to be a barrister vs. a solicitor?
Well. [See the thread that follows]
What characteristics are vital to be a barrister vs. a solicitor?
Well. [See the thread that follows]
#IAmTheBar I'd say there’s a big overlap in the skills required, particularly in crime where the growth in solicitor-advocates means that the distinction between solicitors and barristers is ever blurred...
#IAmTheBar For both professions, the standard qualities – strong communication skills, the ability to consume giant quantities of info in a short space of time, strong skills of written and oral advocacy – are all requisites. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference.
#IAmTheBar My route to the Bar? Well, I come from a non-legal background (no lawyers in my family). I went to a comprehensive school and non-Oxbridge university, and was dependent on a scholarship from my Inn to take the BVC (as was then).
Obviously anonymity makes this a slightly tricky exercise as I can't give as much detail as I'd like, but it's probably right to say that I found the whole idea of the "traditional" Bar really quite alienating, and unlike anything else I'd ever encountered.
No barristers ever visited my schools, so there was no exposure to this world before I attended mini-pupillage. It was a culture shock, to put it mildly (not least as the first junior barrister I shadowed told me he was quitting the Bar).
