Profession

In a welter of longer treatises, the Bar’s Brexit Papers have been described as ‘gold dust’. Written in the public interest to inform and guide the negotiations ahead, Hugh Mercer QC highlights the value of the Bar’s topic-based and clear-sighted analyses  

One of the difficulties in predicting the impact of Brexit on different fields is that the government’s strategic priorities have been expressed in fairly general terms.  

Practitioners share their career break experiences: plan ahead, prepare for challenges and a well-supported return is possible  

CHAMBERS SUPPORT: CHANGING ATTITUDES 

Oliver Hanmer outlines the regulator’s new measures to improve standards in youth court advocacy  

No one could argue against the notion that every child deserves the very best chance in life.  

Would justice be served? Joshua Rozenberg examines the proposed online solutions court in detail  

Should barristers regard online civil justice as a threat or an opportunity?  

Greater Manchester Law Centre has opened against the odds and is the third new centre to join the legal aid network post-LASPO. Barristers were integral to its success and John Nicholson outlines the journey – urging the Bar to join the wider campaign for law centres  

Ken Loach’s I Daniel Blake  paints a clear picture of Britain today.  

With International Women’s Day in March and the new Gender Pay Gap Regulations in force from April, what better time to let you know about the Barristers Lean in Circle? Eleena Misra reports  

Social collective consciousness around the experience of women in society, and not just at the Bar, is increasing.  

Benchmark your budding best practice: putting mental health firmly on the chambers agenda is the right thing to do and benefits the bottom line
 

Research suggests lawyers need to engage more with their personal morality, but what makes a virtuous professional? Mary Cowe considers the development of practical wisdom at the Bar  

During my undergraduate law degree, Lawyer’s Ethics was an optional paper assessed via a two- rather than three-hour exam, and described as a ‘half-course’: cue much hilarity from philosophy student friends about the obvious dearth of ethical proscriptions on lawyers, if there was so little to study it couldn’t fill a whole module. 

Mel Nebhrajani started out at the Bar but was soon hooked on a career where law and politics collide. Here she talks to Grania Langdon-Down about how the ‘diversity story’ should be about the resilience, insight and talent of BAME lawyers – not ‘powerless victims’  

Q How did you find life at the Chancery Bar as a young, female and Asian lawyer? 

No contacts, no mini-pupillage? Dr Elaine Freer examines the state of work experience at the Bar in light of recent guidance for chambers and her own research on socio-economically disadvantaged aspirant entrants  

On its website pages about work experience, the Bar Council states: ‘Mini-pupillages provide an invaluable insight into life as a barrister and may provide some useful contacts to assist you in finding pupillage.