The Bar
Running chambers as a commercial enterprise requires sophisticated, professional, and entrepreneurial clerks, writes Sam Carter, senior clerk at Coram Chambers
There has been many an article written in recent years about the constant changes at the Bar and how chambers should adapt. As a service industry, being cost effective, offering and maintaining a high standard of excellence should be the focal point of any set’s strategy while also remaining ahead of the game. A growing …
Continue reading “Clerks or business leaders? Modern-day thinking and business development”
The Bar
For the Bar to cast off its image of privilege, it must talk about how it selects barristers of the future, argues Ed Vickers QC of Red Lion Chambers.
The legal profession has an image problem. For many students thinking of a career in the law, the Bar in particular is seen as overwhelmingly white, male and privately educated; the language of the law is old fashioned and resonates a world of privilege; and this image is compounded by photos of judges in full …
Continue reading “The problem with pupillage”
The Bar
In a recent speech given at Middle Temple, Three New Square senior clerk Nicholas Hill reflects on his three years as chair of the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks
By the time you read this, I will recently have completed my three year term as chair of the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks (IBC). It comes with a mixture of emotion. Any relief I may have at not having to give another after dinner speech is more than outweighed by the sense of sadness that …
Continue reading “To the future of clerking”
The Bar
Fiona Horlick QC explains what it means to take silk a century after women obtained the right to enter the profession and why it’s important the next generation sees more female leaders.
It is both a proud and humbling moment to be selected for appointment to silk after a rigorous selection process. But it is especially so for a woman in the centenary anniversary year of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, the legislation that removed the bar on women joining the profession. The 100 years since …
Continue reading “On the shoulders of giants”
The Bar
As the latest batch of silks are sworn in, Michelle Heeley QC offers her advice to those at the Bar considering their next big career leap.
Applying for silk is a big step. It’s expensive, it’s stressful, it’s time consuming and yet, every year hundreds of barristers and solicitors put themselves through the tortuous process. If you are considering applying, then this article is written to give you a few things to consider before you send off that cheque for £3,000. …
Continue reading “Top tips for taking silk”
The Bar
Following an exhaustive research process, UK Bar editor John van der Luit-Drummond gives chambers the lowdown on what solicitors expect from barristers and clerks
In the services industry, the number of one star reviews can be the difference between success and failure. Research shows that consumers who have a bad experience are twice to three times more likely to write an angry review online than those who had a great experience are to post a glowing ecommendation. This fact …
Continue reading “The Bar”
The Bar
Catherine Calder, joint chief executive of Serjeants’ Inn Chambers, tells UK Bar editor John van der Luit-Drummond how her set offers a bespoke client care service to the benefit of both instructing law firms and clients
‘I’d be wary of ascribing special skills to either gender, but I do sometimes wonder if there is something special about female friendship, and whether that provides a particular support to women in the workplace,’ replies Serjeants’ Inn Chambers’ Catherine Calder when asked if women can bring different expertise to leadership roles at the Bar. …
Continue reading “Top of the game”
The Bar: Carolyn McCombe
4 Pump Court’s Carolyn McCombe considers the evolution of the chambers CEO role and tells John van der Luit-Drummond why she has recently returned to her clerking roots.
Described in the latest edition of The Legal 500’s UK Bar guide as ‘a major force’ who has ‘built up an excellent set’, Carolyn McCombe’s career in chambers – like many other standout leaders in law – took a more circuitous route. When studying law at Cambridge, McCombe recalls how ‘all of the most intelligent …
Continue reading “A different skillset”
The Bar
Ahead of the 2020 research, UK Bar editor John van der Luit-Drummond examines the current rankings to see which sets came out ahead in 2019.
It’s been just over a couple of months since we launched the 2019 UK Bar guide, and in only a couple of months’ time our research team will begin work on the 2020 edition (I know, I know, no rest for the wicked!). Ahead of our March submissions deadline, I wanted to take another look …
Continue reading “Chambers by numbers”
The Bar
The profession may not yet have had its ‘Weinstein moment’, says John van der Luit-Drummond, UK Bar editor, but would you lay a bet it isn’t just beyond the horizon?
From the famous advocates she worked alongside to the infamous clients she rubbed shoulders with, you cannot help but smile listening to Nemone Lethbridge, 85, recount tales of her life at the Bar. Yet smiles soon turn to incredulous laughter when she talks of chambers’ culture. At a time when a spotlight is intensely focused …
Continue reading “Why the Bar needs to talk about its past, and its future”
