Money money money part 1

Whether it be the correct approach or not, pupillage awards have mitigated some of the financial struggles which pupil barristers traditionally have to meet. The level of mitigation depends upon the size of the award. Since these changes are relatively recent, many barristers had to go through pupillage with a certain degree of financial difficulty (obviously depending upon their background and the level of parental support available to them).

I borrowed £10,000 in 1980 to go through Bar Finals (my local authority did not give grants for them) and to get through pupillage. (This was probably my first significant advocacy triumph since I had no assets and no security to give and persuaded the bank to lend me all this money on the strength of an impressive CV). Since interest rates were high at the time I ended up paying out more in interest on the debt than I actually received by way of paid fees in my first year. Similarly when I bought my first home (at a time when I had still not repaid the debt) it was only possible to do so with the benefit of a 100% mortgage, and I simply could not stretch to the type of house I would have wanted.

The stories that barristers tell vary, but they would nearly all have started off by being relatively poor compared to their friends who had gone into salaried jobs. This has a definite impact in their view of subsequent earnings. When the barrister is eventually successful, when other people talk about his or her earnings they rarely dwell on how they had to struggle to start off their career. In contrast the barrister remembers it very well.

Whilst you would be mad to be a barrister for the money (or would go mad - whilst barristers like to be well paid, it is not a job you could do just for the money, you have to have a calling for it otherwise it would drive you demented) those who suggest that barristers are indifferent to what they are getting financially are well wide of the mark. The traditional view (admittedly going back a long way now) is that barristers were gentlemen and that the money was secondary. That flies in the face both of the capitalist system, ordinary experience, and the reality of what barristers really think.

Most people like to think that their services are valued. If you are being paid whatever is the going rate for what you are doing, that is a reflection that your services are properly valued. If you are being paid substantially less than the going rate, it will often be taken as an indication that they are not. Like anyone else, barristers want to feel that what they are devoting to the cause is properly recognized and valued, as well of course as feeling that the hard work should merit financial reward.

Next week we will look at some examples of barristers in practice finding that getting the money they thought was due to them is not always straightforward.