Day 1, Harry Pupil & The Chamber Of Barristers

I stumbled down St John's Street, Desperately trying to find CardCrime Chambers. This would be my new home for the next year, This prestigious chambers led by Joanne Card QC, England's most feared advocate. In her 20 years at the bar she had gained quite a reputation, Straight talking, Intelligent, Fearless and to be frank, a women very pissed of about her unfortunate name.

This was to be my first day of pupillage. The moment i had been working towards for four years, and i was LATE, i could feel my head dripping as i maintained the jog which i had done since i, rather enthusiastically, jumped of the bus banged into an old lady and may have caused her recent hip replacement to be re-booked.

I had found it, YES, i stumbled through the door. Looked around to admire the archaic building that i was now apart of. My pupil mistress found me leaning against her office door, panting like a bitch on heat. She looked me up and down, Inspecting her misfortune and by all accounts her disappointment. She turned to walk back into her office, Stopped promptly, Turned to me and said "what are those" i followed her finger down, I could see the mistake i had made, My bright red converse stood out from beneath my black pants, Shit, My shoes. She shook her head and smiled, "your desk is over there next to mine". I ran to sit, Well i ran to hide really from the shame, but it was not big enough to do so, so i settled for burying my head under the desk whilst i changed my shoes.

My pupil mistress, Florence Gilmore, her reputation also went before her. A great advocate and a genius in her own right, What she had done to deserve being stuck with me for a year was beyond me.

This is it, This is the start of the journey i entered into four years ago in the enrolling station of my now distant uni. I sat daydreaming about the first day of uni when i heard a loud and stern voice call my name "HARRY" "Lets go, We are in court in 30 minutes, Bring your wig and gown". "Bring my wha.........."

SHIT, i knew there was something i forgot.............

CutSelfishness

Since the govt has introduced its cuts there has been a lot of uproar about how much bankers are paid, How much pension they recieve, which cuts should happen, people demonstrating and most of all people demonstrating with banners that say "NO CUTS". Now i find this shocking because i struggle to see how some people can be so ignorant. Yes cuts need to happen, its a fact, some people will suffer more than others, thats life. We live in a world where bad things happen everyday. Recently we have just had comic relief, the pictures and videos we saw during comic relief, of people with no food, kids who were looking after kids because their parents have died of a disease, no clean running water. Stuff we take for granted. Earthquakes in Japen, Thousands of people dying. The people of Libya being shot at and killed by their own government. I think the people of this country including myself should take a step back and look at the cuts and what the governement is doing, then decide if they have it bad? My answer is simply NO. I'm a student, and i dont come from money, everything i do i do on my own. Yet i am fully aware that the mess this country is in is going to take some give and take from its citizens. Welfare should not be given out to people that can work and people that dont really need it. Certain things need to be cut. We are entitled to protest, and im all for democracy etc but i just think it is very very selfish given the circumstances that other countries around this world are suffering. Also people who protest and committ crimes, criminal damage, damage to areas of london that now the governement has to pay for. Explain how this is getting your point across? Like i said, step back, take a look at what Japan, Libya, Australia and New Zealand are going through and then tell me if a slight increase in certain things or a slight decrease in other areas is really something we have to worry about on the grand scale of things. My answer is NO. And never will be.

The Begining of the End

I left school with one A - C GCSE, I had no idea what to do next, So i went to college to do what a friend was doing, Mechanics. I did this for 2 years, And i think its fair to say it didnt pan out. You will be lucky even now if i know how to change a wheel :) .
I got to 19 and was stuck, What the hell do i do i asked myself. The answer came in the form of a course called an access course, Which i had never heard of before. It was in History and English Lit. I thought why not, I like history, Lets give it a whirl. Whilst doing that i had decided i would become a teacher. I worked with this idea, got a place at university studying history in order to progress to teaching. Finished the course in December , this meant i was qualified to go to uni, Having never done A levels etc this was a relief.
Feb 2010, Started working for a law firm called Beachcroft LLP, Just as a office services assistant, very mundane work but i enjoyed it and met some amazing people who have helped me a lot. During my time here i had yet another brainwave, I will study law instead of history, Everyone who knew me gave me the old "god are you changing your mind again", they were right in what they were saying, I have a habit of doing that. But that was until i found law, i had never enjoyed something so much, and not being academic didnt seem to effect that. I understood it, It seemed to fit the way my mind worked. I finally found my, not to be cliche, but my calling so to speak. It felt right. So i set my plan into motion, Talked about swapping my course from history to law and go from there. I got the same changing your mind speech which seemed to be a continueous thread throughout my life for as long as i can remember. Ploded along to the applicant open day at the University of Lincoln, Sat in a few boring speechs, the death by power point ones, then went to see a bearded man behind a make shift desk in what looked like a toilet, and said "i would like to change my course pls", having said that, i thought it was going to be hard to do and a big drawn out process, he turns to me "yh sure whats your name and what would you like to change to" "James and Law pleasse" "Done" Wow, thats it? Trotted of home and got the papers with the change through the post the next day. I was now embarking on a career in law. I have been at uni now for a year now, Coming to the end of my first year. The reason i wanted to start from the begining on here is simply that a lot of people who start a law degree have doubts as to whether they can do it. I no i did. I have practically no GCSE's and no ALevels whatsoever and would not class myself as intelligent, but i am getting 2:1s, im running for president of our law society and i have decided to embark on a career at the criminal bar. I want people to think that they can do it, if you really want something , no matter what barriers may appear to be in your way, you can kick them down and do exactly what you want to do. Anything is possible, thats what i feel anyway. I didnt intend this to be some kind of inspirational crap haha, But thats the past 5 years of my life summed up. You want something, go get it, Its not easy, but its so worth it. And i think anybody in the legal profession would agree with me?