5 steps to take when you haven't passed an exam

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Starting your civil submission

Civil submissions involve bundles, skeleton arguments, Civil Procedure Rules, case law, and arguments which need to encompass facts, evidence and legal principles. The advocate has to juggle their White Book, their papers, their skeleton argument and other notes, and bring all these things together in a piece of living, breathing, dynamic, advocacy. That is a big ask. But spare a thought for the judge! Real life judges have many applications to hear in a session, which means they have probably only skim read the skeletons and papers. 

This means that they need the guidance of the advocates. And this has to start from the very first words spoken. The introduction is important. It helps the judge ensure they have everything they need to deal with the hearing, it shows the judge you know what you are doing, and it sets up your whole submission to follow. 

Too many students neglect the introductory parts of their submission, either because they are in too much of a rush to get to their best points, or because they have not thought about the logical steps the judge needs to be taken through to set up the submission to be performed. 

The Applicant goes first, and their introduction needs to cover the following:

 

Please, do not wish the judge "good morning" or "good afternoon" unless the judge does so first. It can come across as either unprofessional or overly familiar. 

You then need to introduce yourself, your opponent and say what you application is for. Because you need to introduce your opponent, you will need to know their family name. Barristers refer to their opponent as "my learned friend". We tend to refer to our opponents as "Mr X" or "Miss Y", rather than use their given names. Things are likely to change now that "Mx" is a title for non-gender conforming people, so do remember to ask your opponent for their title and family name.

Please use "my learned friend" for other members of the Bar, and please, use this for solicitor opponents too. The days of barristers belittling solicitors belong in the past. Besides, if you do a good job, your solicitor opponent might even want to instruct you in the future, so why alienate them? As Lady Hale told the BACFI Students Night on 22nd October "I would recommend anyone thinking of going to the Bar to work in a Solicitor's firm. You will get a tremendous respect for what they do.... Don't think of them [the two legal professions] as being in silos; they are not."

I make the suggestion that you check the judge has all the papers, because if judges start a hearing and realise something is missing, they get rather upset. In fact, they get very cross indeed. I have been burned by cross judges in my professional life. It isn't nice. Remember, the applicant's counsel is essentially setting up the whole hearing. Don't just deal with your own side's papers. You need to be even handed.

A summary of the facts is a useful opportunity to put your application in a context and perhaps to give the judge an steer of what the dispute is all about. Some students think this is not a necessary part of the submission, but that is not your decision to make. Give your summary and let the judge move you on if they feel it isn't needed. It is a skill to be able to boil down a legal dispute into a few sentences of most salient facts.

When dealing with the legal test, you will need to do some legal research at the preparation stage - are the requirements or principles in the rule, the practice direction or the case law? Make sure you know the exact source. Think about principles like the court's discretion and the burden and standard of proof. Please use your White Book and if necessary, use case law authorities. You should also think about taking the judge to the Application Notice and/or the Draft Order. The judge needs to know what you are asking for in precise terms.

A summary of what all the issues the Applicant wishes to raise is helpful as it gives the judge an indication of what they need to turn their mind to and in which order those matters will be raised. Give the judge a list of the Applicant's issues verbally, or list in the skeleton argument and cross refer.

Start your submissions, remembering to cross reference with your skeleton argument from time to time. The judge will be trying to keep up with you, in dealing with the facts, evidence and argument. That means the judge might lose their place in your skeleton argument. Everything you do should be to help the judge understand and follow your submissions. 

Think about the arguments your opponent either might make or you know they will make. Try to pre-empt them and neutralise them in your own submissions. That way, when the opponent does make those points, it will be on the back foot. 

After the Applicant, comes the Respondent. But that does not mean that the Respondent's representative looks out of the window or checks their email whilst the Applicant's representative is performing. You need to be alert and listening. You want to think about whether there are any arguments raised that you can respond to. Write them down and plan your arguments in rebuttal as your opponent is performing.

Much of the ground work will already be done by the Applicant in setting up the application. So you only need to do a few mandatory things, and the rest is mopping up things which your opponent has not done. 

 

Thanking your learned friend for their submissions is a matter of professional courtesy. Formality, politeness and professionalisms are important values in the legal professions. 

When thinking about which facts or legal principles to introduce, ask yourself what the judge needs to know before you get into your arguments. What pieces of background factual or legal knowledge are essential? For example, if your opponent has failed to mention the burden and standard of proof and you feel that the Applicant's evidence is weak and disputed by strong evidence for the Respondent, then it would be helpful to introduce this at the start. It can then be something you highlight in the main submissions when needed. 

During your performance, you should try to present some arguments in rebuttal to those raised by your opponent. Don't let the fact you go second allow them to gain an advantage by raising arguments which are not challenged. If you possibly can, try to anticipate their arguments in advance and plan out rebuttals before you get to court (or the advocacy classroom).

Setting up your submissions will help them run smoothly, which will give you confidence and help your advocacy flow. If you need a checklist, make one. But make sure you cover all the introductory and housekeeping matters in this blog post and you will be performing helpful and well structured submissions in your civil advocacy sessions. 

Good luck! 

The next stage in the process of preparing civil submissions is thinking about the Legal Test. You can find out more about this here: https://snigsclassroom.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-legal-test-in-civil-submissions.html

 

No Pupillage? What next?

The pupillage offers have been sent out, and you find that despite your best efforts, you did not secure pupillage. It’s easy to get upset. It’s easy to think there’s no point trying again.

I don’t agree. 

First things first. You need to come to terms emotionally with not getting what you want. Rejection can be difficult to take. I understand that. Don’t force yourself to be positive straight away. Feel angry, feel sad. Tell your close friends and family about how you feel. Get it out. Work through those feelings, and don’t bury them. 

Then think about what you are going to do before the next round of pupillage applications. What experience, what activities on your CV, what work can you get to help enhance your chances next time. If you need to get help from tutors, pupillage advisers, your Inn, your careers advisers, do that. But don’t wait around, start this process as soon as you can. The next round will re-open faster than you think. 

I asked my brilliant former BPTC students what you should do next if you didn’t manage to get pupillage this year. As ever, they didn’t disappoint. 

Sophia Stapleton, who is now in practice at 2 Dr Johnson's Buildings is a BPTC success story. She is not only in practice, but she won the 2016 ICLR Pupillage Award for a pupil in chambers doing primarily publicly funded work. She writes about how she stayed motivated during her search for pupillage here: 

https://www.iclr.co.uk/blog/legal-profession/pupillage-applications-surviving-rejection/

 

I would endorse all of Sophia’s advice. I think making a bank of potential interview questions is a fantastic tip I’ve not seen elsewhere. One to take on board. 

Kate Riekstina shows how persistence and self-reflection can make all the difference:

“I applied 3 years in a row and every year I reflected on my applications, and pursued a different job to fill the holes in my applications. I worked in prison, completed an LLM and worked for a solicitors firm.

My advice would be to reflect on what’s missing. There is no point of continuing in the same job if it’s not going to add anything to your applications. I also think you need something that’ll make you stand out. For me that was working in the prison. But anything that would grab the attention of the reader would benefit the applicant.”

Nobody likes being overlooked. The idea of rejection is something which is very hard to take. So I understand for some people coming to terms with not getting pupillage is hard. But I absolutely agree that some form of personal reflection is needed, to work out how to improve your chances later. But that reflection should be genuine and focussed on improving your CV, your applications, your interview technique. It shouldn’t be beating yourself up and sinking into negative thoughts. 

If you are going to reflect on your past round of applications, you might need a little bit of help to get started. Getting feedback with help you work out which areas you need to work on. 

Jo Moore suggests:  

“Most chambers will be more than happy to give feedback, even if they don't advertise as such. I often drop an email to an unsuccessful applicant who wants some tips, and have telephoned them or met them for coffee before too. Particularly if you have a dream chambers, there's nothing to lose by asking what they were looking for and how you can improve. It also shows dedication and a will to improve.”

I didn’t realise chambers would be willing to provide this kind of feedback, I will confess. So I am particularly grateful to Jo for making me aware of this possibility. This shows how important it is to talk to people who have been through the process to learn what you can about what to do next time. 

Study coach, mentor, Solicitor and former BPTC tutor Suzanne Reece says: 

“Chambers are looking for someone that has personality and can connect with potential clients. Look at what makes you unique and play to this. Brush up on your social media/blogging skills and show your connections, communities and links.”

Students often forget that Barristers work with people. Their clients are people, judges are people, juries are people. So connecting and communicating are key attributes. One can become too preoccupied with perfecting the content of their answers to interview questions and one’s application form, forgetting that human element. Clients want a barrister who is human. Fellow barristers want to share their chambers environment with a human. Blogging is a very good idea, and some of our best students, current and former, have been involved in writing blogs or guest blogs about the law, legal procedure or their study experience. I would say this ties in with having good outward facing professional social media accounts. 

Former student Richard Sampson suggests: 

“If they are interested in crime or family: Get a job as a Trainee Legal Adviser at HMCTS! Experience of live cases, a knowledge of practice and procedure which they will NOT get from the BPTC unless something radical has changed with the syllabus...

A successful legal adviser needs a quick mind, ability to problem-solve, good legal knowledge and rapid research and assimilation skills. Finally, you have to be able to explain complex legal concepts to people who often have limited understanding, whether that’s unrepresented defendants, witnesses, magistrates or the odd advocate!”

Richard’s advice is excellent; sometimes we focus too much on mini-pupillage and outdoor clerking as means of expanding our legal work experience. Actually, doing something that keeps your procedural knowledge alive and keeps you in touch with what happens in everyday practice is very important. 

Lady-Gené Waszkewitz has advice on your applications, the need for help from others, and the need to be constructively critical about your application: 

“I think my advice would be like most others: re-read your application again and again and again. I applied twice and my first applications are actually quite bad compared to the one that finally got me Pupillage. I wasn’t being clear as to WHY I wanted to be a barrister, or join their chambers, or liked their practice area. It sounded nice but didn't say much. The second year I made sure to get as many people as possible to read my application. Not just friends and family as the year before but I used the services at City and Lincoln's, which made a huge difference in the kind of feedback I got. Another difference was the additional work experience I had gained and was able to add to my application. I had done a great internship at the ECCC before applying the second time. I had other internships under my belt already, and I'm not sure it was the most relevant to the chambers I'm now joining, but I'm sure it was a talking point. I was able to talk about the skills I gained, but also about what it took to secure and fund that unpaid internship. Unlike in the UK, I couldn't just waitress in the evenings to cover living expenses.....blah blah blah I'm waffling. I hope this helps. Be relevant, be reflected and don't just rely on your Mum to read your application :)”

I think people just "check" the form for spelling and grammar rather than actually checking what it reads like - so very good advice. Understanding what your experiences have helped you develop as skills is also important. Too many people think their experience is just a "passive" thing they went through, rather than a learning process. Identifying the skills and where you got them is important.

And finally, I would recommend this fabulous website from Beheshteh Engineer and Simon Myerson QC:  https://pupillageandhowtogetit.com/

 

Thank you to my contributors for all their thoughtful and helpful comments. I am eternally grateful for your help to my current students!

Mental Health at the Bar - The Truth Behind the Mask - A guest post by Brian Mondoh

I am delighted to be able to host a new guest post from UK barrister and Trainee Attorney-at-Law of Trinidad and Tobago, Brian Mondoh. Brian was Called to the Bar in 2017, after completing the BPTC with an overall Very Competent. Therefore he is very well placed to share his thoughts for new practitioners, Pupils and BPTC students. 

Brian Mondoh - guest post author

I think the mental health of law students and lawyers is something we are only just becoming aware of as an issue. As society's attitudes are changing, we are becoming much more enlightened about understanding anxiety, having empathy for those suffering from depression and breaking the taboo or stigma of having mental health issues. 

Of course, there are experts in the field of mental health, and if you are suffering from mental health issues, it is important to get the right kind of assistance and care. I would urge anyone suffering from stress, anxiety, depression, addiction or other issues to seek appropriate help. 

However, "self care" can go a long way. Brian's post is candid, insightful and I hope, of great help to you. 

For emotional support you can contact:

Samaritans (Call 116 123 - a free number which does not show up on phone bills)

SANEline (Call 0300 304 7000)

Papyrus HOPEline UK (for young people under 35 struggling with self-harm or suicidal feelings) (Call 0800 068 4141)

CALM (Campaign against living miserably - working to prevent male suicide in the UK) (Call 0808 802 5858)

FRANK drugs advice (Call 0300 123 6600)

Mental Health at the Bar: The Truth Behind the Mask!

Life at the Bar, can I think, best be compared to a theatrical performance! Just like actors, barristers are ever so good at putting on faces, hiding their true feelings and emotions, and shutting out any weak persona. Despite the brave and confident outlook, barristers may in fact be facing high levels of stress and anxiety, undergoing depression and/or even ‘hooked’ on abusive substances. Whether at Bar school or in practise, life at the Bar is a seriously tough job and requires mental fortitude and emotional robustness, not to forget, a strong support system! This could either be from family and friends and/or professional support.

As a Bar student, one quickly realises that being on top of his/her academic and assessments workload is not even half the battle! Many, if not all, Bar students are incredibly intelligent, and this means that nearly everyone’s CV looks the same during pupillage and work applications! The real test then, at least for me, was to keep on top of my workload but at the same time being actively involved in several other extracurricular activities in order to stand out from the crowd when making applications.

The pressure of, among other things, undertaking mini-pupillages, participating in moots, ‘marshalling’/shadowing several judges at the courts, undertaking pro bono casework with the Free Representation Unit, attending the 12 mandatory qualifying sessions at my Inn of Court in London made up the other half! Although overly demanding, this experience was a useful learning point, as it taught me the importance of realistic decision making, time management and not overextending my capabilities.

In retrospect, I can confidently say that Bar School was a good benchmark for getting a feel of life in practise, because if anything, the demands at the Bar are much more heightened! There is the time commitment, the pressure to deliver and the endless reading of sheer volumes of case files and research. Consequently, long study and research hours, often pulling ‘all-nighters’, even on holidays and weekends means that social time with friends and family is gravely sacrificed, thus, adding on to one’s loneliness!

I must confess that I succumbed to depression on several occasions at Bar School because I, like others in my cohort, felt like nobody understood our everyday frustrations and/or the constant and unforgiving pressure that we were going through! I, particularly, felt completely despondent and overwhelmed by the level of coursework and extracurricular activities that I had to manage. I only overcame this slump after seeking professional help and undergoing a significant period of therapy, which helped me to manage my expectations and to play to my personal strengths. In this respect, I strongly advise aspiring barristers to reach out and confide in someone whom they trust and who readily listens. It does not have to be a professional counsellor. At the end of the day, an objective listening ear will be of significant help and can make a huge difference in one’s life!

In sum, the issue of mental health can no longer be ignored! Despite varying cultural and religious attitudes towards the matter, it must be acknowledged and tackled head on! This means that every person experiencing mental health issues, barristers included, must admit and address their issues. Bar Schools, offices, law firms and chambers need to be supportive and helpful, which starts by encouraging a healthy work/personal life balance, flexible working hours and providing counselling support amongst other things as ways of enhancing professional performance!

Author: Brian Sanya Mondoh

Qualified as a Barrister (England and Wales), Trainee Attorney-at-Law (Trinidad and Tobago)