The early years at the bar: dos and don ts. Cathy Maguire BL

Transcription

1 The early years at the bar: dos and don ts Cathy Maguire BL Build up your practice a. Come in at 9.30 a.m. every day. Sit in the same place. If people know that you will be available, they will know that they can ask you to go into court for them. b. Try to sit in a place where barristers who are ahead of you, both senior and junior, also sit. They can help you with your problems. If they get to know you, they may be in a position to pass work your way. c. Other barristers may ask you to go into court for them. If you have something urgent on, say no. Otherwise, say yes. Don t ask whether you ll be paid, just do it to oblige. Sometimes your colleagues will ask you to do something in court that neither they nor you can charge for. If you are seen to be obliging and reliable you ll get handovers that you will get paid for. However, do make sure that you have full instructions on the matter and the name and number of your instructing solicitor. Also (unless the matter is a consent adjournment) make sure that you are attended.

2 d. You will have a lot of friends in the library and a constant flow of invitations to coffee. Set a maximum number of coffees for yourself in the day two is reasonable. Try not to spend too long having coffee. Don t refuse to go for coffee all the time you need to mix with other barristers. You should talk about your cases and court experience you will learn. You should try to mix with barristers who are ahead of you if they get to know you, if they know you re reliable and obliging, you ll get work from them. e. You need a lap top for research and typing dictation is prohibitively expensive at the start. Now that there is free internet access, electronic research and remote printing in the library you will save time if you have your own laptop. There is another advantage if you have your own laptop, you can work in the law library in full view of your colleagues and you are more likely to get work that way. If you work at home, or in the computer room in the law library, you won t be seen by your colleagues and they won t know that you are around and available for handovers. Mind your practice a. You should open your post every day. If you are not in a position to open your post, you should get someone to open it for you. If you are not in a position to do so, you

3 should leave a message on your voic saying that post will not be opened for a specific period. b. When you open your post, you should either deal with the query immediately (v. efficient) or at least ascertain what you are required to do. If you are required to appear in court on a given date, write the date in your diary immediately and write it on the top of the cover letter. If you are required to either advise on proceedings or draft proceedings, you should ascertain when the cause of action arose and when you believe the cause of action will expire. You should write these dates at the top of the cover letter. If the date when the cause of action will expire is coming up soon, and if you re not going to deal with the matter immediately, write the date into your diary. This is crucial: you don t want to face a professional negligence claim. c. You should change your voic message every day so that people have confidence that you are checking your voic . This also ensures that you check your voic every day. If you are doing paperwork, you might consider diverting your mobile to your voic and checking your voic only when you have finished working. Remember, solicitors don t necessarily expect to contact you during court hours. d. Set personal deadlines. Decide that you will turn all of your paperwork around within a given period perhaps two weeks rather than figuring out exactly how much

4 time you can take over a given case. Some people specialise in fast turnaround same day or next day and build up their practice on that basis. e. Read your papers thoroughly. f. Insist on being properly briefed. If you are acting in a motion, you need to have a full set of pleadings. g. Insist on being attended. If you are not attended, the judge may refuse to hear you. If you are not attended, the Solicitor on the other side may make a complaint about you to the Professional Practices Committee. If you are not attended, you have no written record of what you said and it may be alleged that you said something which you did not say. h. Don t be afraid to ask for help. Ask other barristers for help. You are entitled to receive help from your colleagues, even those whom you don t personally know. If you hear that somebody knows about an area you need assistance in, just introduce yourself at an opportune time and ask for help. It may also be useful to ask a registrar for help. Embarrass yourself in front of anyone rather than embarrassing yourself in front of the judge. Act professionally a. Be polite to your client, your instructing solicitor, your opposite number and the Judge. b. Show up on time.

5 c. Make sure that you are neat and tidy and professionally dressed. d. Act on instructions. You are not the client. It is not your case. For example, it is not open to you to reject an offer without taking instructions. e. You must act within the code of conduct. Be sure to familiarise yourself with the code of conduct. If you are unsure whether you may be in breach of the code, you may ask for a ruling from the professional practices committee on the appropriate course of action. Be a good colleague a. Don t take your colleagues short. b. If you appear in a motion and your colleague is not there at first calling, you are obliged to put it back to second calling. c. Tell the truth. Don t mislead the judge. If you do, the judge will remember. Also, the judge will tell his colleagues. d. You are obliged to help your colleagues if they ask for your help. Staying sane and looking busy a. Report cases. The Irish Reports, the Irish Law Monthly Reports, the Irish Times Reports, the Employment Law

6 Reports and many other reports need reporters. Contact the Editor. Ask for work. b. Write articles. The Bar Review, the Irish Law Times, the Employment Law Journal, the Commercial Law Practitioner and many other journals need articles. If you can produce an article that is reasonably topical and is the right length the likelihood is that they will be delighted to publish it. For example, choose a recent interesting case, contact the Editor, arrange to write an article on that case for a given issue, précis the case, insert an introduction and a conclusion, make sure it is the right length and submit to the Editor on time. c. Write a book. All publishing houses are eager to find new authors. Choose a very narrow topic which will be exhausted in a very short book. Compose the proposed table of contents. Write a chapter. Approach a publisher and arrange to write the book for that publisher. Aim to finish the book as quickly as possible. d. Find a way to make money in the law library. If you can work at your laptop in the law library, no-one is to know that you are not working on a case. You will give the impression that you are busy and yet you will be available to go into court if necessary. For example, all publishers need copy editors and this work is often

7 free-lance. If you get a job lecturing, you can prepare your lectures in the law library.