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‘It’s hard to score without a goal,’ is a well-rehearsed saying and, as a coach, one with which I couldn’t agree more. Having been that pupil, entering the Bar fresh-faced at 22 years old with the most obvious and tangible next career goal being one year hence – to secure tenancy – I know how rare it is that junior barristers formulate any longer-term, post-tenancy career strategy. From the moment tenancy is secured, however, without a plan of action, it can sometimes feel like a vast 15-20 year void before serious consideration can be given to taking silk or applying for a part-time judicial appointment.
Things are getting better. With more training for clerks, the appointment of practice managers, and the increase in mentorship programmes to highlight the inspiring career progression journeys of others, the Bar is opening itself to conversations about career planning. People are starting to think strategically about the more immediate goals – what they want from their careers in the next 12 months to three years – and how it is they go about it, whether that’s applying for the next CPS Grade, exposing themselves to the rigours of the Attorney General’s Panel monitoring or otherwise devising a tangible strategy for career development.
According to The Lawyer portal, it takes an average of 13 years’ experience before barristers are appointed to Queen’s Counsel. Important for longer-term planning is to know what exact experience is required before then, and addressing the question of how to go about acquiring it in the more immediate term.
Even if a goal is years off, it is better to identify it now, own it, then break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks to create an action plan of how it will be achieved.
The silk application process is notoriously rigorous, as you might expect. It requires not only evidence of a vast array of deep experience but also support from referees – judges you’ve appeared in front of, or those, like instructing solicitors or recent opponents, who can speak to the five competencies the application demands to be met. As a result, it’s frequently said that a three- to five-year plan is necessary to network and develop the experience required to support a successful application.
Perhaps you’ve been left feeling a bit stuck of late and haven’t been able to think of your next steps? For many, the pandemic prompted a re-evaluation of priorities and their future at the Bar. Your goals may have shifted so much as to be almost unrecognisable from when you last reviewed them.
By way of reassurance, that’s a perfectly natural response: goals inevitably change with age and life experiences. You certainly won’t be the first, nor I’m sure the last, to experience this. I’m noticing this trend with clients a lot – so many of whom are reassessing what truly is important to them in both their careers and personal lives, and discovering things monumentally unexpected and different from before.
So, whether it’s short-term career planning, or longer-term strategising for the bigger, more audacious goals, be prepared to have honest and sometimes uncomfortable conversations – firstly with yourself, and with those around you on a need-to-know basis – about what it is you want. Then look at the ways you will get there. Invite the support you need to help you to do so.
Goals conversations should be closely followed by a discussion around your values and beliefs. How do those values and beliefs align with your career ambitions? If there is an incongruency, how can things be tweaked to create better alignment?
I’ve long been an advocate for the importance of a career strategy. Without it, it is so easy to feel out of control, that your practice is a thing being ‘done to’ you, as opposed to something over which you have input or control.
The long-term effects can be a sense of frustration, despair even, if your practice is being steered in a particular direction, and one that you wouldn’t have chosen for yourself.
As an antithesis to this, here are five strategies to become the mistress or master of your own destiny at work:
It’s all about being purposeful at the end of the day. Firstly, know where you are heading, then make a plan to get there. Finally, of course, take action – because, as I often say in webinars: ‘Positive intentions without positive actions lead to positively nothing!’ These things won’t just fall into your lap, after all: ‘If it is to be, it’s up to me.’
I wish you every success in taking those first positive steps and look forward to reading of your achievements further down the track.
In Part 2 of this series we discuss how to find strategies for developing resilience through overcoming rejection.
‘It’s hard to score without a goal,’ is a well-rehearsed saying and, as a coach, one with which I couldn’t agree more. Having been that pupil, entering the Bar fresh-faced at 22 years old with the most obvious and tangible next career goal being one year hence – to secure tenancy – I know how rare it is that junior barristers formulate any longer-term, post-tenancy career strategy. From the moment tenancy is secured, however, without a plan of action, it can sometimes feel like a vast 15-20 year void before serious consideration can be given to taking silk or applying for a part-time judicial appointment.
Things are getting better. With more training for clerks, the appointment of practice managers, and the increase in mentorship programmes to highlight the inspiring career progression journeys of others, the Bar is opening itself to conversations about career planning. People are starting to think strategically about the more immediate goals – what they want from their careers in the next 12 months to three years – and how it is they go about it, whether that’s applying for the next CPS Grade, exposing themselves to the rigours of the Attorney General’s Panel monitoring or otherwise devising a tangible strategy for career development.
According to The Lawyer portal, it takes an average of 13 years’ experience before barristers are appointed to Queen’s Counsel. Important for longer-term planning is to know what exact experience is required before then, and addressing the question of how to go about acquiring it in the more immediate term.
Even if a goal is years off, it is better to identify it now, own it, then break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks to create an action plan of how it will be achieved.
The silk application process is notoriously rigorous, as you might expect. It requires not only evidence of a vast array of deep experience but also support from referees – judges you’ve appeared in front of, or those, like instructing solicitors or recent opponents, who can speak to the five competencies the application demands to be met. As a result, it’s frequently said that a three- to five-year plan is necessary to network and develop the experience required to support a successful application.
Perhaps you’ve been left feeling a bit stuck of late and haven’t been able to think of your next steps? For many, the pandemic prompted a re-evaluation of priorities and their future at the Bar. Your goals may have shifted so much as to be almost unrecognisable from when you last reviewed them.
By way of reassurance, that’s a perfectly natural response: goals inevitably change with age and life experiences. You certainly won’t be the first, nor I’m sure the last, to experience this. I’m noticing this trend with clients a lot – so many of whom are reassessing what truly is important to them in both their careers and personal lives, and discovering things monumentally unexpected and different from before.
So, whether it’s short-term career planning, or longer-term strategising for the bigger, more audacious goals, be prepared to have honest and sometimes uncomfortable conversations – firstly with yourself, and with those around you on a need-to-know basis – about what it is you want. Then look at the ways you will get there. Invite the support you need to help you to do so.
Goals conversations should be closely followed by a discussion around your values and beliefs. How do those values and beliefs align with your career ambitions? If there is an incongruency, how can things be tweaked to create better alignment?
I’ve long been an advocate for the importance of a career strategy. Without it, it is so easy to feel out of control, that your practice is a thing being ‘done to’ you, as opposed to something over which you have input or control.
The long-term effects can be a sense of frustration, despair even, if your practice is being steered in a particular direction, and one that you wouldn’t have chosen for yourself.
As an antithesis to this, here are five strategies to become the mistress or master of your own destiny at work:
It’s all about being purposeful at the end of the day. Firstly, know where you are heading, then make a plan to get there. Finally, of course, take action – because, as I often say in webinars: ‘Positive intentions without positive actions lead to positively nothing!’ These things won’t just fall into your lap, after all: ‘If it is to be, it’s up to me.’
I wish you every success in taking those first positive steps and look forward to reading of your achievements further down the track.
In Part 2 of this series we discuss how to find strategies for developing resilience through overcoming rejection.
In this month’s column, Chair of the Bar Sam Townend KC highlights the many reasons why barristers should pay the Bar Representation Fee and back the Bar Council’s efforts on behalf of the profession
Is now the time to review your financial position, having reached a career milestone? asks Louise Crush
If you were to host a dinner party with 10 guests, and you asked them to explain what financial planning is and how it differs to financial advice, you’d receive 10 different answers. The variety of answers highlights the ongoing need to clarify and promote the value of financial planning.
Leading legal DNA, drug, and alcohol testing provider AlphaBiolabs has made its first Giving Back charity draw of 2024 with Andrew Sibson, a Legal Officer at Leeds City Council, being chosen as its first winner
Discover Lloyd’s unique approach to financial planning and experience working with barristers
Trust Delaunay Wealth to stand by your side amid the uncertainties ahead, writes Lloyd French
Lighting fires that cast unfairness into the shadows, creating history at home and abroad, and being comfortable with who you are – the remarkable criminal and international human rights barrister Kirsty Brimelow KC
Marking International Women's Day, Will Tyler KC interviews two female silks at the helm of two huge specialist Bar associations about their lives and careers – finding a common theme both to their success and the challenges facing their respective Bars
No longer an exclusive boys’ club, but still some way to go. To mark International Women's Day, Millie Rai describes what it’s like being a young female barrister at the Commercial Chancery Bar
If we fail to nurture women’s collective talent, half the population of this country will not be properly represented – from the junior Criminal Bar right up to the senior Judiciary. We cannot let all the hard work be undone, says Tana Adkin KC on International Women's Day
In this month’s column, Chair of the Bar Sam Townend KC highlights the many reasons why barristers should pay the Bar Representation Fee and back the Bar Council’s efforts on behalf of the profession