The Bar and the J-Curve

I became a practising barrister in 2016 (after completing pupillage). I had trained across all areas, including crime and regulatory.

A mature student, I had borrowed significant sums to be able to afford to train for the Bar, and had taken note of the “health warning” offered at the time (which I see remains current) along the following lines:

“You will only be successful if you:

· have a high level of intellectual ability and

· are highly articulate in spoken and written English and

· can think and communicate under pressure and

· have stamina and emotional energy.

Because it is such a great career it is a very popular choice, and therefore very difficult to get into.”

I took that warning with a pinch of salt: surely it applied to those who lacked the requisite academic credentials?

No, I now see — it really does apply to most applicants irrespective of any previous accolades. But I also see the warning makes a lot of assumptions about which I remain a little skeptical. Are we really saying only the smartest succeed? My own observations are that that does not hold true in politics or business. It is quite clear the Bar is not immune from the biases that obtain in every other area of professional endeavour.

But I certainly agree about the stamina and emotional energy bullet point in that health warning.