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