Raising the Bar

A Student’s Guide to the GDL

This episode offers advice and insight into the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) for students who have studied a non-law undergraduate degree and want to pursue a career in law. 

In this conversation, Niamh is joined with Nicholas Zeolla, to discuss his pursuit of a career at the Bar from a History degree. Nicholas is a current Bar Course student and is due to commence Pupillage in 2023. As the current AGIS President Nicholas also shares insights on how the Inns of Court are there to support students becoming barristers through scholarships and other opportunities.  

A Students Guide to Disability at the Bar

This second instalment of the Raising the Bar - A Students Guide, is hosted by Ciara Church and guest Zoe Chan. 

Zoe is a Gray’s Inn Scholar and aspiring barrister wishing to pursue the law of Human Rights and Civil Liberties.  

This discussion provides a student’s perspective of inclusivity and having a disability at the bar. Zoe talks about her involvement in the particular initiative of ‘Bringing [Dis]Ability to the Bar’.

A Students Guide to the Bar Course

This conversation marks the first episode of the new ‘A Student’s Guide’ series on the Raising the Bar Podcast where we will discuss topics relevant to current and aspiring bar course students. This episode is hosted by Ciara Church with guest Kelly Yu. Kelly was the AGIS treasurer from 2021-2022 and is a Gray’s Inn scholarship recipient. Kelly came to the UK for university, from Hong Kong and studied English before transferring to Law. In this episode Ciara and Kelly discuss the different bar course providers, their journeys to the bar, and the lessons they’ve learnt along the way.

Sustainability and climate litigation at the Bar

Working from home, online mediation, nett zero disputes, paperless practicing, the Greener Pledge - the pandemic has highlighted many of these issues and had been a period of reflection for many. How does the charge to nett zero affect how we practice, how do we enforce this in different jurisdictions, what is sustainability at the Bar?

In this episode Ciara discusses all this and more with Marion Smith QC and Annie Mackley.

 

Resources on climate litigation 
UNEP Global Climate Litigation Report 2020: Global Climate Litigation Report: 2020 Status Review | UNEP - UN Environment Programme
Sabin Centre for Climate Change Litigation: https://climate.law.columbia.edu/ 
Judgment of the District Court of the Hague in Milieudefensie e.a v Royal Dutch Shell: https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument?id=ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2021:5339 
ICC Commission Report: Resolving Climate Change Related Disputes through Arbitration and ADR: Resolving Climate Change Related Disputes through Arbitration and ADR (iccwbo.org) 

Resources on sustainability at the Bar 
Greener Arbitrations: https://www.greenerarbitrations.com/
Net Zero Lawyers’ Alliance: https://netzerolawyers.com/
The Mediator’s Green Pledge: https://imimediation.org/2020/10/21/the-mediators-green-pledge/
The Chancery Lane Project: The Chancery Lane Project
Bar Sustainability Network: Bar Sustainability Network (barcouncil.org.uk) 

Life as a new tenant

In this episode, Ciara chats to the original podcast host ,Alana Hughes, about her new tenancy, family law, the differences between being a pupil versus a tenant at a chambers, the impact of the pandemic on her new practice and so much more.

 

A talk with His Honour Judge David Aubrey QC

After a break we are back with our interesting podcast series hosted by AGIS.

This episode is a first for the Raising the Bar Podcast as Alana Hughes, our guest host for the segment “Meet the Barrister”, chats to His Honour Judge Aubrey QC.

Judge Aubrey was the first in his extended family to attend university after attending a state grammar school. He obtained pupillage and tenancy in Liverpool and after 20 years at the Junior Bar he decided to take Silk.

He has been a Northern circuit judge since 2005. Alana speaks to Judge Aubrey about his path to the Bar, the decision to change career from being a barrister to a Judge and his experiences as a Judge and so much more.

 

(This episode was recorded remotely in April 2020)

Pupillage Applications demystified

The Pupillage Gateway opens for submissions on 5 January 2022 - a process fraught with tension and anxiety for most students for weeks as applications are prepared, rewritten and finally submitted. What transferable skills can you include, how should you include them,  what can you do to make your application stand out.

In this episode our new AGIS host Ciara Church, chats to Ayanna Nelson about her experiences and tips and suggestions on the application process. Tune in to find out more.

Managing your finances as a self-employed barrister

Becoming a self-employed Barrister is an exciting part of the journey. What many new barristers aren’t always sure of is how to manage their finances at this point.

In this episode Nia chats to Alex Friede, an accountant who advises self-employed professionals and small businesses on their tax, accountancy, and financial management affairs. He is a specialist in the affairs of barristers, and his portfolio currently includes over two hundred practitioners.

Tune in as he shares some tips on how to best tackle the money side of your new practice.

Life as a new pupil barrister

Pupillage marks the start of a new phase in your path to the Bar. After the months of preparation, applications, grueling interviews and stressful waits for outcomes you may be considering what lies ahead.

In this episode Nia chats to Alana Hughes about the transition from student to pupil barrister. Alana shares her experiences, the expectations versus reality and how the pandemic impacted her pupillage and what support the Inn offers to pupil barristers.

What to do if you don‘t get pupillage

In this episode we chat to Elena Johnson, a past publicity officer of the Association of Gray’s Inn Students (AGIS) and podcast host of Raising the Bar 2019-2020. Picking yourself up after pupillage rejections is a tough part of the journey to becoming a barrister. Elena did not manage to get pupillage first time round and tells Nia what she did in the year thereafter and how it helped her secure pupillage. She also shares some tips on pupillage applications and the skills she picked up in her "gap year".