Those who can...

Few people are lucky enough to end up doing the job they thought they would be doing when they were a child. I can't remember a time when I wasn't thinking about being a lawyer. When I told people this was my plan it was usually met with 'oh yes I can see you as a Rumpole'. It was only later that I realised this was an allusion to my waistline rather than my powers of oratory.

It was once I started on my law degree that I began to have doubts. Was this for me? Could I really hack it? Fortunately there were two epiphanies in my second year. The first was taking part in, and subsequently winning, the university mooting competition; the second was doing a series of mini-pupillages. This re-affirmed my intent. Before I knew it, I was a member of the Middle Temple and on my way to London to do the BVC.

Like many students in my year, I left the Inns of Court School of Law without a pupillage. However, by using my free time to do some stints with the Citizens Advice Bureaux (and by getting a friend who had been a recruitment consultant to look at my CV) in my second round of applications I was successful.

After what seemed an eternity, I began my pupillage in Leicester. I was very lucky to be in a set that offered me a variety of work throughout the Midlands. One morning I could be prosecuting in Grimsby Magistrates' Court, the next day appearing for the claimant in a fast-track trial in Dudley. The breadth of my knowledge of the law and my ability to digest and analyse cases increased almost as rapidly as the mileage on my car.

The best of both worlds

After three-and-a-half years of doing everything from landlord and tenant to immigration, I realised that my real love was jury advocacy. I moved chambers so I could develop a purely criminal practice, and spent the next four years doing just that. Even after eight years the sense of anticipation does not diminish as the foreman stands up to pronounce the jury's verdict.

However, for every thrilling cross-examination, there is a day spent waiting all day for the sentence to be called on, and gradually I began to think about other ways of working with advocacy without being beholden to the whims of a court listing officer. The solution came in 2007, when I saw an advert for a tutor on the BVC at Nottingham Law School. The chance to teach on such a prestigious course intrigued me; I applied, and in 2008 entered my new role.

I very quickly realised that in fact this really did offer the best of both worlds. The course is delivered through a series of briefs based on real cases and the students work on them from first instruction to resolution either through a trial, negotiated settlement or guilty plea.

Each stage of the criminal or civil litigation is looked at in detail from a practitioner's perspective. It is no good being able to cite lengthy abstracts from the Crime and Disorder Act if you don't also know what to do when your client turns up drunk or your instructing solicitor has failed to serve a medical report.

Each class throws up its own challenges. Facing one judge who might have a tricky question on the law is one thing.

Facing 12 students all eager to learn, all of whom have mastered the brief, is a far more daunting prospect. The law needs to be at your fingertips. The explanation you give needs to be clear. 'It's just how it's done' is never a good enough answer. You must be able to give model demonstrations of advocacy at a moment's notice, and a stray apostrophe in a drafting sample will be seized upon.

The rigorous intellectual challenge that attracts so many people to the Bar is exactly what is demanded at all times. The satisfaction that comes from winning a difficult case is easily surpassed by the satisfaction that is gained from watching the students develop from undergraduates into fully fledged professionals.

Old friends, new challenges

It was a very easy transition to make. All my fellow tutors are experienced practitioners and the heavy emphasis on court visits and maintaining links with the local Bar means that I stay in contact with friends from the Bar and judiciary. I remain on the door in chambers and the university holidays mean I continue to appear in court over the summer. This gives me the chance to practise what I preach as well as preaching what I practice. In time-honoured fashion, I ought to finish this article by rephrasing George Bernard Shaw. Those who can, do. Those who can, and want to continue but also face fresh challenges, teach!

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