High Noon
Any of you who have ever watched the Gary Cooper Western will know that this is about the town marshal making his preparations, before the group of outlaws arrive on the noon train with a view to killing him. Throughout one is conscious of the inexorable march of time towards an imminent confrontation.
^ TOPFirst cases
Albeit less dramatically, this week and next pupil barristers across the country will have the same feeling. After six months pupillage you are able (in your "second six") to conduct cases in court. Depending on the precise start date (usually between late September and October 1) the first case for trainee barristers across the country will occur in late March/early April.
That of course assumes that the work is there for them to do. Once you are "on your feet", having successfully completed six months pupillage, you are available for work, but that does not mean that the work will come to you. Even in a busy Chambers, it can depend upon whether there is work at that very junior level.
^ TOPStart date
Every pupil will know what their own start date is. They will have been looking at the court diary with a mixture of anticipation and unease. Some will have a case that is in for the first day, but then goes off at the last minute leaving them without a case to do on their start date. Another might have the date vacant and then suddenly get a brief just before close of play on the previous business day.
^ TOPFeeling a fraud
After all, as a first six-month pupil barrister you feel a bit of a fraud. You are working hard, and you are hopefully learning, but you have never done a case. When people ask you what you do and you say you are a barrister, and then they ask you what sorts of cases you do, it is somewhat humiliating to confess that you haven't actually done any. All pupils feel far more like a proper barrister once they have actually done a case in court. Any case, however small, means that you are now one of the gang.
^ TOPLive firing
However until you actually start appearing in court, you do not know for certain whether you will be any good or not. This is the career you wanted to do. You have worked hard for this moment. An actual court case is different from the training. However well-trained a soldier is, if he has never been in a battle you can never be completely sure how he will react. Although less dramatic than a battle, once you start appearing in court you will soon know whether you might have a future. I can think of people who were thought of as potential real stars, who didn't stay long at the Bar because when it came to the reality of court cases they couldn't realise their potential.
^ TOPMoment of truth
I have previously written in QC blog about my own first trial. Those of you reading this who are going to be barristers (or solicitor advocates), perhaps some years from now, will face your own moment of truth. Then you will know whether your dreamed of career has a realistic chance of success. That is the moment of truth that pupils all across the country are facing at the moment. Many will succeed, some will fail. We should keep our fingers crossed for all of them.