Being there part 3
A young barrister has to work hard to make his reputation. When he is doing his pupillage he is looking to impress solicitors colleagues and clerks. In the first six months pupils will work under the supervision of their pupil master, but will not be doing any of their own cases or paperwork. In the second six months they can do their own paperwork and their own cases. There will come a point at which they find out whether they have got a tenancy. That is the key moment in any barrister's career. The equivalent of a football club trainee being offered his first professional contract.
The trainee barrister is being observed all the time. For example, I know one former Chancery pupil who during her first six months pupillage was noted and talked about as being hard-working and good at applying herself to the real issues in case. This continued during her first cases in her second six months, and for her obtaining a tenancy was a formality. People notice the good things (and the bad!) more than you might think.
The particular barrister the subject of this article had completed his first six months pupillage. He had done really well. He was due to commence a second six at a different Chambers. However the first Chambers, impressed with him, told him that they would like him to stay for a second six. They said it was probable he would be given a tenancy.
However the second six was going to be at a very prestigious Chambers. He decided he would like to give it a try. Therefore off he went.
His first case at the new Chambers was a juvenile court trial. It was a special court trial. That meant that the only piece of work that was going to take place in front of that court that day was the trial, to ensure it was finished. Needless to say he wanted to get off to a good start. The trial was at Brentford magistrates. He travelled so as to be there in plenty of time. Preparation of the case had been immaculate. This was his big chance and he intended to make the most of it. He had read everything in the brief with immaculate care. Well, nearly everything.
To his surprise he could not find the case listed in any of the courts. He ran round them all again checking there had been no mistake. Then he went to the Central Administration Office and they could not find it. This had taken a considerable time, and the trial was already supposed to have started by now and yet it did not appear to be listed. It was only as he looked again at the front of the brief that he saw the one thing about it that he had not got quite right. It was in Brentwood magistrates, not Brentford. Right the way across London.
He telephoned Chambers asking them to alert the court to his mistake. He then got there as quickly as he could. The trial had been due to start at 10 a.m. He arrived at 12:15 p.m. The bench were not amused, being understandably irritated at having been held up. Nor could they (nor anyone else) understand such a basic error.
It was hard to run the trial after that disastrous start. It did not go as well as he would have liked. The client was convicted.
From that moment on he was finished at the new Chambers. No one was interested in what he had to offer, no one had any confidence in his ability to assimilate facts. Well before the end of the pupillage it was apparent he was not going to be offered a tenancy, and he was not. His career at the Bar ended. All through not being there in the right place at the right time.
We will never know how far he might have gone as a barrister. I suspect a very long way. However every cloud has a silver lining. He subsequently qualified as a solicitor and, as a partner in a City firm, is enormously rich and successful.