Life as a Barrister

PAUL YOVICH SC

Francis Burt Chambers Commercial

I joined the Bar in 2011, after more than 21 years in the profession, all of them in the public service. I had started my career at the Crown Law Department (as the State Solicitor’s Office was then known), and moved to the DPP’s office in 1993, a little over a year after it was first set up as an entity independent of Crown Law. After 18 years at the DPP, I made the move to the Bar at Francis Burt Chambers. In some ways, that career path is not uncommon. The SSO and DPP are well known to provide excellent training and opportunities to develop skills as an advocate, and advocacy is often seen as the core work of a barrister. But my path was also atypical in that I came to the Bar comparatively late in my career, and for many years at the DPP, I never felt the desire to leave. During my time at the DPP, it was a very collegial workplace (and I am sure it still is). The work its lawyers do is often factually and legally complex, court work is demanding and stressful and criminal law can be highly emotionally charged. My experience was that we all tried to help and support each other in the difficult and demanding role of prosecutors, and I did not expect the same level of collegiality at the Bar. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the Bar is also a very collegial place. Even when we are directly opposed to a fellow barrister in a case, my experience has been that relations are cordial far more often than not, and barristers regularly help each other with advice on cases, and refer work they can’t do themselves to their colleagues at the Bar. If there is one characteristic that I would say is the most important one for a barrister as opposed to other lawyers, it is “independence”. The pressures that clients can sometimes put on solicitors, and the close relationships that solicitors and regular clients can often develop, mean that it can be hard for solicitors to see things with the same detachment that is so important to what a barrister does. It can also be very hard for any lawyer to give clients bad news, or advice they don’t want to hear, but the fact that a barrister’s relationship with the ultimate client is at one remove from the solicitor-client relationship means that barristers can more easily give that “frank and fearless” advice. I did not appreciate the value of that independence before I came to the Bar, but it has come home to me many times since. On a more personal level, I have enjoyed my 11 years at the Bar a great deal. The work is varied, you are your own boss, so you are answerable to no-one for how many hours you bill (apart, perhaps, from your bank manager), and if you are too busy, you can (and should) just say no. That doesn’t mean that it is easy to say no. Because we work for ourselves, and our overheads are lower than those of solicitors, it can be tempting to say yes to a brief even if it means you are working all weekend because you know that you will earn a direct reward for your work. As a barrister I work long hours pretty regularly, but these days there are very few lawyers who don’t, and it is some comfort, believe it or not, when you are sitting at your desk on a weekend when other people are having their leisure time to say to yourself “I could have said no to that brief”. So, to sum up, the work of a barrister is varied, interesting, and intellectually challenging. It can also be stressful and exhausting. It can be very lucrative, although there is no guarantee you will earn a cent, and you don’t get paid leave. But lawyers exist first and foremost to serve the community by helping to uphold the rule of law. And it is very rewarding to feel that you are doing that.