Imagine the scene…

Therapist: How are you doing?

Me: My head is about to explode from stress oh you know, ok.

Pause.

M: I just want to throw every law book, no, infact every thing I have ever owned into a huge skip and grab a rucksack, and enough pairs of knickers, and car keys and drive round the world and not look back.

I have been very busy lately.

T: doing what?

M: Job number one, job number two, job number three, the masters, being asked to start a company and pursuing business ideas of my own, applications for internships and jobs, dealing with some family issues (theirs not mine), a car accident, etc etc the list goes on.

T: you push yourself far too hard!

M- sheepish look

M: What’s really bothering me is that I can’t go to bar school.

T: why not?

M: can’t afford to….

************

The bar. The bar the bar. The bar to the bar! $$$£££

No scholarship benevolence for me.

And I know why- ‘prospects of success’ criteria. Plus my nerves did get the better of me.

I knew when I started this process that my chances were very slim. And they are now more or less non existent at this point. I am being quite honest about this because I believe that, for good and bad, those who try for the bar must know what they are up against, and that especially true of those who have frequented universities which are outside of the Russell group or Oxbridge.

Because if I go to the bar right now I will be saddling myself with massive massive debt which, in this economic climate and without chance of pupillage, I may never recover from. Because it would be fees (£14k) and living expenses for a year in London (which I reckon I could do on £6k) plus an above average level of student debt already incurred. Its a no brainer!

But as always, there is a tantalising fly in the ointment which pulls me towards throwing twenty thousand pounds of caution to the wind and going for it. There are a couple of barristers I have been working with quite a bit and who want me to apply to chambers because they want me to join their team and because they think I would make an excellent addition. There is no hidden agenda to this, and no suggestion of nepotism to any extent beyond a good reference as said chambers is a member of olpas. The obvious point being that when not being grilled about my life history etc in 10 minutes, I have managed to show a capability to those in practice that I am well suited to a career at the bar.

I am naturally torn. But nothing is guranteed in life, and I can’t risk all that money on what is, at the moment, a proposition. When I am in a stronger position to take it up then maybe.  If and when I can afford the bar, then I think I will apply- if you don’t try you’ll never know. Until then I will bide my time.

So what next for me?

I could still take the BVC as soon as I can afford it. I could then go into a firm and sit the QLTT, and have the opportunity to transfer back to the bar at any time without having to go through it again. While pupillage looks to be not an option for someone like me, I feel I would have better chance at gaining pupillage and tenancy after having practiced as a solicitor for some considerable time. Also, the BVC would open lots more doors tha the LPC- you are a partially qualified lawyer. The LPC qualifies you for absolutely nothing. And the LSA will provide interesting alternatives. I have done a bit of research into this and there is some ambiguity as to who can be a partner in a ‘new type’ firm. Eligible professionals include ‘barristers’. I have requested a clarificaiton of this term to ask whether the LSA also means barristers at law, but no one seems to know. Interesting loophole.

Plus, by the time I transfer back the course would probably cost about ONE MIIIILION POUNDS so that would be one advantage to still go on to do the BVC.

I could take the LPC but then I am stuck with a career path of billable hours and three-monthly appraisals for the rest of my days without escape. If firms were like chambers I’d be laughing. But then wouldn’t we all. I see the BVC as a superior course to the LPC just in terms of the skills taught, and I do believe them to be transferable. Negotiation is taught on both, and I already know how to draft contracts and various other commercial agreements, so apart from solicitor ethics I don’t think there would be much on there which would leave me with a skill.

Granted, the usual and quite justified question that firms will ask a bar grad is, ‘huh, failed at the bar then old chap, what do you think this firm is, a graveyard for failed barristers?!’ to which of course the reply must be something along the lines of ‘no sir, please sir, MORE sir, take PITY sir’ ‘not at all. while I was progressing on the course I was reconsidering my decision to go to the bar in light of the increased fusion between the professions* and realising that the bar is not the only place where I can practice law to a specialist level/gain advocacy experience/ develop an individual practice.’

(* this fusion which barristers are so scared about I think is an overreaction. but anyway. who cares what I think.)

The other options are Phd, research, NGOs, teaching law, and a couple of other little business ideas which are forming in my evil brain.

So I will still be blogging. And I will still soooo be lawgirl. And this is law AND life. But maybe it will be more life than law sometimes. And for those who got scholarships, and who can afford it, very best of luck. Let us know your tales on your path to the bar.