Keeping Focus Part 1
When working as a barrister, and above all when working as a barrister in court, you have to to keep your focus. This has to be done whatever the state of your health, work pressures, private life or other distractions.
Barristers all over the country have been having to cope with this in the latest silk round. It was actually more simple when I took silk. Every year appointments were announced just before Easter. The letters would be received on the Monday of the week in which Friday was Good Friday. Since the courts were not sitting at all from the day before that, that week was normally one in which you would be catching up on paperwork . Therefore you knew exactly when you would find out whether you had succeeded or failed, and in addition you would know that it was at a time when you were unlikely to be in the middle of a substantial court hearing. It would be untrue to say that having applied in the previous October one simply forgot about the whole issue, but in large part (aside from occasional musing on the subject) you could park the issue ready to confront success or failure on the nominated day.
I was awarded silk on my first application. I am told by those who obtained silk after more than one application, perhaps on their second, third or fourth attempt (some people have applied many more times than that, and some succeeded when into double figures) that those who get it first time can have no idea of the soul-searching and self-doubt that you have when applying again having already failed at least once . I suppose even worse for those people (of whom there are some) who have made more than 10 applications and never succeeded at all. At least however all of those people, whilst it was no doubt a background anxiety, would have known the exact date upon which their latest application would either succeed or fail.
Barristers applying to become a QC now have no such luxury. There is no longer a set timescale. That means that theoretically the results could come out at any time, or having been expected within a particular time frame could be delayed. The applicants last year, who all discovered their fate on 21 January 2008, were informed in December 2007 that the results were likely to be out sometime in January. That meant that they neither knew the date, nor consequently would they know or be able to arrange a day or two off after the result either to celebrate or drown their sorrows.
This means that today, yesterday and the day before, barristers up and down the country have been having to focus on court work. Some have been having to focus and not think too much about the successful appointment which would be the pinnacle of their career to date. Others have had to focus in the face of crushing personal disappointment. Either way, in accordance with their professional obligations, they have simply had to get on with it.