This year, I feel very fortunate to have taken silk.
I start this with a huge thank you. There are a tremendous number of people to whom I will always be immensely grateful, and without whom I would never have achieved this. Those people include not only colleagues and friends in recent years, but looking back, those who enabled me to pursue a career at the Bar in the first place, including those Middle Templars who so generously donated to the scholarship fund. Whoever and wherever you are, thank you for your kindness.
I wasn’t born into a family of lawyers or network of contacts. I never had a lifelong desire to be a barrister. My first experience of the law was after my parents separated when I was aged around eight and I was at the centre of contested court proceedings. Some years later in sixth form, I wrote to the barrister representing my mum and asked for work experience at her chambers.
At that stage I decided law wasn’t for me and chose a degree in modern languages, which I loved. After graduating, I turned back to law and embarked on the GDL (now PGDL). I didn’t really have a plan. I applied for training contracts and received an offer from a commercial firm which included payment of the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and money to go travelling for a year, before starting a two-year training contract.
At the same time, I completed a mini-pupillage in family law. That quickly made me realise that a career at the Bar and in an area of law directly impacting individuals was more for me. I turned down the offer of a training contract, and, with some difficulty, the money which was going to support my studies.
At this stage I learnt of the Inn’s scholarship scheme. I applied for a scholarship with Middle Temple and within a few weeks of interview, received notification that I had been granted £10,000 to study the BVC (now BPTC). Back in those days, notification was by post with a cheque enclosed. The postman had left the envelope on top of the wall outside my student house. Things may have been very different if it had been a windy day!
Within weeks of starting the Bar course, I went to see my tutor to tell him that I thought I had made a massive mistake, and this was not for me. I was a little overwhelmed by the confidence of some of the other students and felt a bit of an outsider. He told me to stick at it. Thank you, Mr Fox.
After a number of rejections, I was offered pupillage at 1 Stanley Place, Chester (now Linenhall Chambers). My practise quickly became largely criminal. With the tremendous support of colleagues, I was fortunate to reach the stage where I was in a position to apply for silk.
If you are a student reading this, you may well be feeling how I felt at law school. You may be doubting whether you have made the right decision, whether you will ‘fit in’ and whether you will get there. If you believe this career is for you, just keep going. It’s hard and relentless and there will be countless knockbacks.
However, there are also a number of people looking out for you, wanting you to achieve your best. Don’t rely on them to do that for you – it still falls on you to do the hard work.
The Qualifying Sessions and advocacy training weekends arranged by Middle Temple were fantastic opportunities to meet barristers and judges. Those Middle Templars are giving their time to help you; make the most of the opportunities and their generosity.
If you are thinking of applying for the scholarship, do it. Be yourself.
And finally, to those who may now be in a position to give something back to those entering the profession, your kindness, time and support will be appreciated more than you will ever realise. I took a leap of faith, and was caught by a support net which has been there for me ever since, and which I will always use as my foundation to help others. I end where I started. Thank you.
Anna Pope KC was Called to the Bar in 2007 and is a criminal barrister at Linenhall Chambers, Chester. She sits as a Recorder in Family and Crime and on the Mental Health Tribunal. She lives in Chester and in her spare time enjoys sport and outdoor adventures.
