The Inner Temple Yearbook 2021–2022
One Bar: Experiences of Employed Barristers
ONE BAR: EXPERIENCES OF EMPLOYED BARRISTERS From an online panel discussion held on 24 June 2021, chaired by Master Sara Lawson (Serious Fraud Office) with Sarah Williams (Payne Hicks Beach), Master James Kitching (Fried Frank), Simon Regis (DCMS Legal Advisers) and Master Anupama Thompson (Harrow Crown Court).
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SARA LAWSON QC SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE
SARAH WILLIAMS PAYNE HICKS BEACH
There are lots of ways of getting to where you want to be. This panel presentation is really to encourage everyone to open up and think about what is out there and what’s on offer. Speaking personally, my journey to the Employed Bar was a very long one because I had been practising in chambers for more than 20 years when I become an employed barrister at the Serious Fraud Office as their general counsel. There are many pros and cons about being employed or being self-employed. The main things about being employed are the paid holidays, the regular salary, and the fact that you don’t actually have to go and tout for your work. And there’s also the big difference of maternity or paternity leave pay. There’s also, depending on your circumstances, chances of working part-time. There’s much more flexibility generally in terms of the hours you can work. On tonight’s panel, we have employed barristers in public service, employed barristers in private practice and law firms, and we also have a judge with us who is going to talk about her journey from the Employed Bar to the bench.
I’m Sarah Williams, an employed barrister in the family department at Payne Hicks Beach. I started at the Bar in Manchester at 18 St John Street, a common law set with a fantastic pedigree. The Head of Chambers, Rodney Klevan QC, was a remarkable advocate who achieved outstanding jury successes. The common law pupillage work was just bustling. The late 1990s was a thrilling time to be at the SelfEmployed Bar. There was a real vibrancy about the local Bar.
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I had a really mixed bag of crime and family. Manchester was still doing armed robberies long after it had gone out of fashion in London. I enjoyed being led on heavyweight cases like that and fraud. However, after a time, I moved over to practising exclusively family law. The Family Bar in Manchester was incredibly vibrant, and we didn’t have to travel off circuit. As a junior barrister, I was privileged to be instructed on high quality work: it was commonplace to appear in the High Court on a regular basis and before remarkable judges like Baroness Hale and Sir Nicholas Wall. I felt incredibly spoilt and very lucky. I don’t think I’m looking back with rose-tinted glasses, but there were no concerns about the levels or quality of work; it was a very collegiate atmosphere in chambers and a vibrant local Bar within a very sociable Northern Circuit.
