Career Hub

Lucy Barbet's top tips on how to plan, communicate and execute a career break, and get your practice up and running again quickly 

Unvarnished advice from four recent and atypical judicial appointees: HHJ Madeleine Reardon, HHJ Fayyaz Afzal OBE, Tribunal Judge Michelle Brewer and Mrs Justice Eady talk to Rehna Azim about why they took the plunge, retention and diversity challenges at Bar and Bench, and what they thought of the application experience 

From a jobbing criminal hack to a silk, Recorder and Bencher in four years – Kama Melly QC reflects on how it happened and the measurement of career success at the Bar 

The plumage and ceremony delights some and appals others, yet its professional significance is inescapable; Chris Henley QC (successful in round three) riffs on the award and how to get it 

Unpaid fees? Give some thought to your contractual status and when to use the ‘nuclear option’, writes Adrian Vincent 

Paul Secher explains how to enhance your chances of appointment 

The cost of employing the staff team is often the largest single element of expenditure for a set of chambers. Are your set’s employees ‘fully engaged’ or are they simply ‘coming to work’? asks Catherine Calder 

Learn the art of saying no without burning bridges or stemming the flow of instructions. By Nikki Alderson 

It’s an increasingly popular method of appointing counsel, so how will you answer the call to tender and establish yourself as the irresistible choice? Douglas McPherson explains 

Feeling sluggish in the practice department? Dust off your profile and learn how to stand out from the crowd with this refresher guide. By Deborah Bryan