PM OG

Careers q if you have a few mins - what's the state of the junior bar these days? Are pupillages still the preserve of the redbricks, 'right' backgrounds, and stellar academics?

A lass at work is embarking on a legal career (the fool) and juggling her degree with her day job (how times have changed...). Good A* equivalent A-levels but in soft subjects, although from what in my day was a rough/dead end school so good effort. On for a 2:1 but Yr 1 results were desmonds and it's a former poly. First in family to uni and no professional connections. Probably won't come across great on paper as she won't know how to play the game and has made some ill-advised choices (A-level subjects, uni), but is hard working and is the sort who would have breezed through life if from a middle class background. Will do very well if she gets given a chance.

Now clearly I am trying to steer her towards the light of soliciting (fnarr) but is the Bar getting more accessible to those with non-traditional backgrounds/academics or is it tightening up as competition for places increases?

Is it even worth recommending the Bar these days? I hear mixed views on the realities of life at the junior end, but then you get mixed views of our side of the divide too, so I tend to take lawyers' grumbles with a pinch of salt.

Ta muchly.

Posted By: CWC, Jan 29, 11:41:26