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How to talk to a Judge? I can safely say I now know. This was no mean feat. The bf can't stand the traditional aspect of the Bar and sees no reason why we cannot speak in plain English. ....I digress......



In the advocacy assessment of last month, we had to prepare and give submissions on an interim payment. I left feeling happy and was quite shocked that I received a result that would have equalled the smile on my face after I left the assessment room. I passed the Advocacy assessment and can safely say that this is one of my favourite subjects and one I think I do my best in. Some people say that Advocacy is a bit like acting. There are merits in this, however, whenever I am "up" I feel like I am the mouthpiece for the client and that the points I have should be addressed, noted and agreed with. The is the stance I have in my head whenever I am "up" and I hope this assists me. I got a good grade, one of those ones that you feel proud telling your parents.... Dad has now resorted to advising me that when I start making "grands" not to forget him. He of great faith.



Life has been quite busy since the end of the BVC. The "restructure" prime facie ( I love this phrase!) sought to retain skills and knowledge within the department, save money, elect higher management, restructure and "streamline" the department, but if office gossip is to be believed, assist a particular individual to perhaps not take up the post offered upon restructure. One day, at work, expecting to see this person, and you would never believe it, they were not there. Sick, I say, Sick as...well individual didn't say what made them sick, individual called again and requested to take annual leave. One only take annual leave in an LA if they need to. That is what flexible working is all about.....individual took the annual leave owed to them and "puff, be gone" just like that genie in "I love Lucy" The rudest thing was that a leaving card appeared before the Whoosh. Some of the team took it quite well considering, others were none too impressed by the execution of the "restructure" To all intents and purposes, individual was a nice individual , perhaps not best suited to the chemical make up of the superiors that governed. So we fast- forward to working without individual, and where I thought it would be a bit weird, it hasn't been really. As they say, Life goes on. I think individual will be back, like a scorpion to sting someone. Work is busy, plenty of work to do, less politricks and I am easing myself into an organised phase. Feels good. Disorganised was good too. Chaos is good, it helps the mind filter out the chaff.



In this filtering mode, I decided I needed to focus on the money raising aspect of life. I applied for a Criminal Paralegal role, I am still waiting. They have advised "if you do not hear from us, due to the number of applications we receive we may not be able to respond. Please take it that you have been unsuccessful" Well how long a gap does one leave? I have not heard anything from them as yet.



ensuring that the application I sent off was a good move, I ran the idea by the supervisor who agreed to assist with PSRAS. He said "Wot, you need a job, you neva said. Come and see me" So I did. I went to see him last Friday. The following Thursday, I started work with him as a Criminal Paralegal. Well, I was ecstatic. The firm is a high street firm, extremely busy, full of politricks but small enough for me to obtain a hands on approach to Criminal Law. The Boss started me off with reading cases. The first case was a LA case, so this one was a doddle and I felt proud that I had told him something new about this particular aspect of law. The second was an individual who had 23 Counts against themselves. I read the Witness Statement of one individual and realised that the job I will eventually do, will always leave someone unhappy. I had the task of considering evidence. I have not done this before, so I hope the attempt I handed in to the Boss was good enough. If it wasn't I hope the Boss tells me what was wrong and how to fix it. The office space is tight, the stationary cupboard is bare, I feel sorry for them. But I have a good feeling about working for this firm and the opportunities it may lead to. At least they will instruct me!



So, I still work for the LA, I paralegal part time for a firm that seems to be clinging on but is vibrant, busy, and will afford me an opportunity to hone my craft. Boss seems to be genuine in his offer of assistance, this helps. I await the result of a written police station exam I took earlier this month. I have to pass this now, failing it will make me look like a big fat twit at the split between two partners firm. Partner does look a bit Ford Dodge though. It's in his eyes. Boss is charming and would have made for good TV, but you can also see he has a genuine desire to practice law, properly and justly. This is all I want and I am looking forward to this ride.



Oh, and the fact that the team haas been paid late on occasion has not made me want to run, so let's see how this pans out.



I have yet to save any extra money, nor read any of my materials for September, but this week will change that.



Until the next time..

Advocacy Assessment and end of BVC YR1!

Well, they say time flies when you are having fun. It also flies when you only have 12 minutes to complete an advocacy assessment!

I had mine last week and left feeling quite pleased. I was in front of the "judge" quite early on, not sure if that was to my advantage or not.The thing I love most about giving submissions is the persuasive argument. The advocate needs to convince the judge that their way of thinking is best considering the matter at hand. I hope the French Artist got his interim payment! Results are out in the summer, so I will wait and see what happens.

Now what to do. Seems like my life is finally catching up with me and I am now really busy at work. I have a ton of work to complete and cases to prepare on behalf of the LA that I spend a disproportionate amount of time frequenting and moaning about. I was made to feel slightly guilty and spoilt last week, when, moaning about my job the person concerned said "well at least you have a job innit" This is true.

Life at work is weird. Politricks aside, I work in an environment that lends itself to big fat egos, slippery tongues up bums and one-upmanship. You'd think I was already working in a corporate law firm, but I am not. I work for a local authority. My department is going through a restructure at the moment and it will be interesting to see if those who have had to re-apply for their own job get it. Thankfully I am not one of those people. I am hoping one gets the job and the other doesn't, for the sake of equilibrium!

What does one do with themselves now that college is over? I am going to try and get the bf and I away somewhere away from Politicians and their expenses Big Bruv crap, Oyster payasyougo, BOB 'effing Crow (greedy b'stard) and not having to think about an upcoming assessment or hand in exercise. BTW, the bf supports Man U and they are selling Rio (sexy legs) Ferdinand to some other team and he will be paid £200+K a WEEK. I said a WEEK, yes that's right a WEEK! How many magistrates will I have to attend to earn that and how many police cells will I have to trawl to earn that?

A project I will be working on will be the "how the hell can you afford fees and how you gonna pay gurl" This will be a project that will involve brainstorming and prioritising. Where is the job and who will pay me the most. Heels, ironed shirt and barrister suit to the ready!

It transpires that throughout the year, at any time when I doubted myself it was not warranted. I am amazed at how much knowledge I now have and how imperative passing the GDL was. One has to know Contract and Tort. Without these as a base level, one will certainly struggle.

Thankfully, I will now have a few months to chill, earn some extra money to pay BPP as well as apply for OLPAS, redecorate my home, become a champion online seller of goods as well as be the perfect partner and homemaker!

Somehow, I doubt my summer will really be like this.

Until the next time.

Hurrah- 1st year of BVC nearly over! Yipee and Yipee again!

Wow, doesn't time fly...I feel like me Mum....using words she uses and used to make me frown, worst yet, is that i drone on a bit at times like me Dad!...I digress...well from Lastminute.com to ...well you guessed it Lastminute.com with a difference; the difference being I am not as late this month as I was last month in getting myself organised and prepared. Why come? Well I don't want to do my current job for ever and I've done loads of shitty ones already and I really like talking, and talking and fighting verbal arguments...have always been like it..."But Mum, you said 'x', so how could that then be 'y'" (swipe) "don't answer back" OKAY THEN...

Right what do I really want to say..hmmm..well.. I have had a few comments that I was not expecting really, but am happy to have received. Thanks, will endear me to post more often. (will also note password as keep forgetting it and then forgetting the "hint" I made up)

Well since the last blog, it has been more of the same. Work, Study a little bit of play and not a lot of life. I did have a birthday, that was good, but I felt a bit guilty...Skellie anyone!

Since the last post I have been examined and assessed. One more to go, Advocacy on the last teaching Saturday in June...We have been asked to submit a skeleton argument...the issue is contractual and involves a French artist who has been commissioned to redecorate a hotel foyer...the issue has been lost in translation...I am a tad worried as this seems to good to be true. We have already had a skeleton argument on the same topic, interim payment and now we are back again. Follow the structure provided and I should be OK. I took a lesson from one of the previous study group sessions I had, where I all had to submit a reason why my client should receive an interim payment. Many of us thought well why not think of an figure out of the air, as long as it is less than the actual amount denied by the other party we should be OK. WRONG..Computer says "NAH" ...So this time, I will be submitting in my skeleton argument that the claimant should defo get the amount of money he had already dished out prior to the interim payment issue coming to court........as long as I agree there is a contract, but there would have to be or this would all be pants wouldn't it.......this makes perfect sense now, didn't at the time.....I am better at judicial intervention than the planning part, but I am getting much better and this has been noticed by those that need to notice it, so I'm good...for now!

So..this Saturday I will take a train, no doubt at 6am to get to my provider for 9am. Sat should be a good day for shopping, if I had any money left....(simply Red's 'money's too tight to mention' has just sprung up in my tired brain and now won't go away..."Oh Money, money, money, money, money....drum beat") I would go shopping in the city centre and spend it, but I'm broke as a joke but still breathing so feel lucky. So I am sure I will have to spend the majority of Sat pm window gazing at all the things I will be able to do when I am a Criminal Defence Barrister for a set of Chambers that is looking for a HUMAN BEING, not a statistic.....I want to be a Barrister who is able to communicate with her clients.....I want to be a Criminal defence Barrister...BUT I want to have a life, or at least half a life..but how does one do that with the current problems of the independent bar....one of our tutors on the BVC is a family law practitioner, even she advises caution before entering the profession (tell me that after I've paid you a million quid, loosely veiled as tuition fees) due to the overall changes at the Bar as well as the lack of funding now being made available. I would do PI, but having just managed to get an Interim payment (something I do know a little more about now) from a well known insurer, it seems a lot like paper pushing....Commercial is out for me, my Uni didn't have an "Ox" a "bridge" or a "cambs" in it....I am of childbearing age, green coloured and covered with blisters....kidding, I am human and just want to do a job I can love, will learn from continually and I know I will love it. I feel at home in a court house... I used to take annual leave and sit in court houses, the best in London of course...Wood Green for a guaranteed punch up, Old Bailey to get on the telly (even if its just your back, or a flick of hair..you will know) RCJ for its sheer beauty, Inner London and Southwark for good cases and crappy canteen, the former has half one of it's buildings as it should be, old and aged, the other half is new and F-ugly..who designed that? Southwark reminds me of watching court cases on the telly when I was a kid, love the receptionist, always with magazine in her hand (cheapo ones with sex and sleaze emblazoned on the front) I like Blackfriars in its idly tidly way, seems like it was the court that was slapped on the road without much thought, and its a bit of a Bitch to get to.
Croydon Crown Court is something else, slightly old in its ways, but has good cases held at Croydon, Kingston Crown Court is where you go if you want a really old jury (armed robber, attacked defenceless old lady, grabs loot and is off out the door, quicker than you can say "credit crunch" CCTV available and clearly shows robber, but jury think it wasn't 'im, cos he looks so charming and sweet...) and send em to Snaresbrook if you want the defendant to get off, walk off, jog off, swim off even or run off out into the beautiful grounds (why are there really big SWANS at Snaresbrook?) Snaresbrook reminds of Tottenham Police Station....lax and always got something (else) to do.....Once, I went to see a defendant in his cell and a mobile rang..it wasn't mine...didn't feel like a snitch with when I told the Sarg, he could have had anything, a bottle of wine or he could have smuggled a load of old exam papers in with him, anything.....

Had to see one of my clients today...FRAUDSTER, he is lying through his teeth.....I have enough evidence to prosecute, but I suspect his barrister will source sufficient mitigation for him...due to BPP, I have, in my head...(it thinks like a barrister, looks like one when suited and booted, gimme pupillage)........and slowly the books and the BPP and the study and the panic and the lastminute.com, comes together....

Sleep now goldilocks cos you have exhibit labels to prepare in the am as well as lots of work, oh yeah, and complete my skelli...luckily for me, the last team meeting I was in at WORK was so boring I hand wrote my skellie and added points in the hour it took for my boss, Peggy Mitchell to bore me senseless! (She really does remind me of Peggy Mitchell- bless her, maybe not!)

Lastminute.com

Wishing for more time. Starting to feel under the kosh and expecting my preparation to land on my computer screen. Exactly when did I start to believe that merely looking at the screen would produce work of outstanding credentials? What better reason to become a barrister. You waltz into court, talk posh, smile and mumble to your client. Job done. Hah! Wake up now. OK...I am awake. Another reason to go to the bar? I can convince me of anything. Why not you, or a court, or a tribunal, or a judge, or a custody plod! You see what I mean. Only I can do that. I have to admit, another reason for wanting a life at the bar is this very reason, last minute fires me up, waiting ages is a chore. I was born early, if the recollection by my mother is correct. I simply could not wait to get out there, see the world and commit to my fave past time-talking, conversing. I love to talk. Advocacy is just a posh name for talking. See I can even do it with my hands. Where was I? Right, Why become a barrister- Well, apart from the lastminute.com bit, I think my personality denotes I work for myself. Perhaps working in for a local authority highlights this even more. My current job is my first local authority role, never before had I been employed by the Government. I hate answering to people, especially my boss who does nowt much else than apply lipstick, forward unread emails containing incorrect law, talk about upcoming holidays (when can i have one) and her (overgrown) daughters.....i would rather work for myself and be proud of the fee I command, rather than the salary that someone else believes I deserve. Luckily, most people in an LA are paid similarly if not the same scale. Imagine my horror when sometime last year, I found on a printer in our open plan office, an excel spreadsheet containing the salaries and pay scales of my colleagues, my bosses and their boss. Stunned I was, breach of confidence, slack administration perhaps, by 'ek my boss didn't think so, she advised me that as we are all aware of our colleagues salaries, we already know! Private practice, this would never have happened. (The cleaner was probably earning more than me at the top 10 law firm in the city of London that I worked at for a time. Her salary rose incrementally and she was there when the river Thames was a stream) Can you see why data discs are mislaid with this shoddy attitude. I digress...I want to work for myself. Then my mistakes are really mine, my money is earned. Work hard and the fee will be paid. (eventually) I wanna be self-employed. I wanna wake up knowing I am interested in the day ahead, rather than thinking about which poor-sod is going to get a criminal record because they didn't tell one government department something, but told another. At least they bothered to tell. Wondering if my client will cry when they attend a "meeting" with me. Wonder if I can pick up any tips in how to defend the claims I currently prosecute, when I become a barrister. Wonder how I will feel when I can finally say, I am a barrister! That's some of the reasons why I wanna be a barrister..and to show off of course, "cos a barrister is better than a solicitor init"!

Oh, I did my research, the cannabis grower in credit crunch times, would have been done for cultivation...things are so much easier when one does ones research.

Back to drafting we go..Sat seems like it will be upon me quicker than a my trainers before a gym session. I have Advocacy, Conference Skills and Opinion Writing and Drafting sessions to complete. In my head, I have reasoned that as a qualified practitioner, I will have to on a regular basis, work hard and fast in a little time for money, so I should be able to do so now. Bad attitude my girl, bad girl. C'est la vie. I don't think old dogs can be taught new tricks!

Until the morrow or another.

BVC weekend approaching

Last weekend was the last weekend this month before we attend BPP. This month students will be assessed on their Conference Skills as well as having to hand in an assignment on Drafting. Each month I feel as if I have ages, I simply don't. I am getting better at preparing in advance for the seminars and it makes all the difference.


Re Police Station Accreditation, I am one step closer....I have bought a book that I have been advised should assist and I will be booking the exams for May, so the commitment is there, lets hope the brain is "ON" on the day!

I was back in the Police Station last week, again working in custody. It is amazing the offences that bring individuals into the custody suite and the drivel that is used to substantiate the offence

Man is affected by the"credit crunch" has a light bulb moment and decides that as the cost of cannabis had increased, it would save him money to grow his own. His only problem is that the Police decided to raid his neighbour who has a warrant out for his arrest and in the process arrested him and confiscated his cannabis...and it was a lot. The leaves had no flowered yet, so he was kindly offered a Caution by the Police and sent on his merry way! I did wonder what kind of creative defence I could have come up with if I was his duty solicitor on the day...(lack of flowers = not really cannabis, thus no poss of class B! I'll run it by my supervisor...)

Currently I am at my desk at my local authority post. I have already had the unfortunate position of dealing with an incompetent firm of solicitors who did not turn up for the second time to represent their client, and I had to turn my client away due to the non-representation rather than bash her over the head and make her confess to her crime...I am one of the nice ones..... They say that legal departments of LA's are something to be desired, however in these times, reputations of firms need to be on point. My LA's legal department has its good points and its bad one, but for one, blame can firmly be placed with the private practice!

So...my aim is to ensure that I am able to continue some of the work that I do in my LA role, and implement it into my practice when I become the pupil for some unsuspecting fellow.

Until the next time....

Long time no write!...life really does get in the way!

I am sitting in a custody suite in a London Police Station....interesting, if not smelly and a bit awkward at times...take one of my potential clients...yesterday, I was unable to see him as he decided to smear excreament all over his cell and at anyone who opened his wicket. He was a nice as pie to me, but I was advise of his "game" just before I was due to be locked in a consultation suite (painted cell, invariably) with him to offer said advice. I did have another client to see, but he too wanted to play games...excrement was obviously too messy for him, so he chose to spit...nice!

Why am I telling you this? Well really so I can air it for myself. I want to work as a Criminal defence barrister. Is this possible? It had better be! In order for this dream to come true I will have to acquire a pupillage first. Stop laughing...Once I have acquired a pupillage, I will then have another fight for tenancy. Am I willing? Yes. Am I able? Yes. Am I realistic? Most definately. There are some students who are unable to obtain pupillage, qualification apart. What can I do to appear more attractive to those that are responsible for pupillage places.....become Police Station Accredited, that's what.

Lightbulb moment. I think I was a tad scared initially. Didn't want to be in the police station on a regular basis. Then the BVC happened. It caused me to think about other ways to make money. One of which is me sitting in a custody suite at this present moment. My work here is not in a legal capacity per se, but does require I know a little about the law, arrest process and detention of detainees. The police station accredititation process will allow me to further develop my knowledge of PACE, arrest and detention and make me more attractive to defence solicitors, who will in turn be calling me every day to request my humble services!

my second blog ever! LAW!

....it's really late, I am really tired, but only now becoming very interested in the information I am supposed to have digested over the last few months. The provider of the BVC, remember, the expensive one, have very kindly recorded revision lectures, just for me. Of course I downloaded it to my mp3 player to listen to on my commute to work. Of course I always listened to music on the majority of those journeys. Exam looming, the serious hand is now been turned in some part of my brain.

Right now, I am listening to a monotonous lady's voice as she reads from a script. She is Zzzzz boring, (Oh my Lord, she has just sneezed....couldn't fork out for special editing) but she is easier to listen to than read up again, or could that be for the first time! The course fees are probably due to the cost of about 4 of our text books, and photocopied "manuals" and mock-up "briefs" produced by the institution. The majority of the textbooks are mammoth paper blocks of legalese, wafer thin papers enclosed in a smart hard back... The car I currently drive actually cost less than one of those said books. Babygirl is a banger, but a beautiful banger, She has never ever let me down, is cheap on petrol, tax and insurance and takes me where I wanna go, except at the moment as a little prat in a big new shiny car bumped her beautiful side and now Mr Mechanic thinks she is not worthy of repair. I could kill him.

Monotonous is still going on.....burden and standard of proof, sentencing requirements, prosecution disclosure....detention periods....So far, so good...no bits I have never heard of, that is always a good start.....not feeling too nervous yet, give it till the end of the week....

Because of Mr Pratinshinycar, I am more familiar with Civil Law, especially claims for damages due to the paper fight my insurers are having with his...... 100% liability looks like it wants to lie in my bed as the third party's own insurers have sent an investigator to his car, but not to mine....he was in the wrong and I trust this will be borne out in the evidence (sounding like a lawyer already) My interest is in Criminal Law, however I appear to be better at Civil. Is someone trying to tell me something?

The revision lecture for Criminal is still going....she goes on for 1hr 18mins and 18secs...I must be dedicated. Will be knackered in the am, just in time for work!