Positive encouragement for those interested in the Bar
Michael Polak, Will Glover, Karen Reid and Ben Thomas took part in a Question Time style discussion at Middle Temple Hall on Saturday. The event formed part of a day's activities intended to give school and university students the opportunity to understand what life at the junior bar entails.
There were over 200 students in attendance and the panel was put to task answering questions on the topic of "What I wish I'd known before I applied...".
The panel's advice was encouraging and focused on a 'can-do' approach. Michael Polak spoke of working full-time hours around his full-time BPTC and used this as an example of how he had to make sacrifices and overcome challenges to get to the Bar. Others spoke of similar experiences including taking on significant pro-bono work around employment and studies and being more canny in looking for novel funding methods in order to gain experience in their preferred (though often less paid) practice areas.
The panel gave lots of advice to those attending with general topics including the following:
- getting involved more with local volunteering opportunities;
- considering whether a part-time BPTC with employed experience in relevant areas of law might be more effective in certain circumstances;
- finding and engaging with mentors to assist with applications and opportunities to expand on experience; and,
- looking for novel funding methods including essay competitions and scholarships.
MTYBA looks forward to hosting and attending similar events in the future.