Open House
^ TOPTradition
It has always been a tradition at the Bar in Manchester (and the Northern Circuit) that when someone takes silk and becomes a QC their drinks party is open to all other members of the circuit. Thus the successful barrister applicant will have a drinks party to which he will invite people he specifically wants to attend (family, friends, solicitors, judges, whoever he likes) but will also have all barristers on the same circuit who want to turn up.
When you are serving champagne (also the tradition) tradition does not come cheaply. There has been a slight wane in the custom in that some parties are now not open house, but the majority still are.
^ TOPEaster
Under the silk system that operated up to 2003 the silk routine always occurred at the same time. Results came out at the start of the week in which Good Friday occurred. People would know on the Monday/Tuesday. Parties would usually occur on the Wednesday. You might find yourself going to half a dozen different parties in the course of the day. I still have a vivid picture of one barrister (pleasant, alcoholic, died at about 40 due to drink related illness) staggering into one party late in the day, still determined to drink a glass of champagne. People were watching him in fascination, wondering if this would be the metaphorical stick which broke the camel's back and causing him finally to fall over. (It did not).
^ TOPNew system
The new silk system does not operate at a set time of year. It is also not entirely clear when the results are going to come out. Although the parties still of course take place, there is a lot less provisional planning because the time of year is unknown.
^ TOPMissing your own party
Sometimes people effectively miss their own party or had to have it delayed because they were away. (Much more likely to happen when the date of notification is uncertain). I usually went skiing at Easter. Knowing that first-time applicants will usually be unsuccessful, I was reluctant not to book a holiday. After all, some people applied year after year after year and the prospect of missing every Easter holiday purely in order to have the disappointment of finding you had missed out would have been unbearable. Fortunately as I took silk on the first application (and fortunately had not booked a holiday that year!) I did not have to worry about that.
^ TOPLegendary mixup
Still, it could be worse. One year (I believe this story is too persistent to be a mere urban legend) there were two applicants with the same name. One was successful, one was not. Unfortunately the letters got mixed up. The mistake was soon discovered but I often wonder what devastating psychological effect this would have had on the unsuccessful candidate, who believed for a day that he had succeeded. Often I have heard successful candidates tell me (when I was a junior), how relieved they were by their success, that they were fed up of being a junior and they didn't know how they would have carried on had they been unsuccessful. Imagine telling that to all your colleagues and then having to tell them five minutes later that after all you were staying as a junior!
^ TOPSadly
Had this been under the old system therefore, as you read this I would have been flitting from champagne reception to champagne reception. Sadly today will be a little more prosaic and will consist of finalising a filing a written argument with the Court of Appeal.