Mentoring matters

‘Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.’ (John C Crosby)

To outsiders, the Bar can seem like an arcane and inaccessible profession. Some people applying to become barristers are lucky enough to have relatives or family contacts whom they can approach on an informal basis for help and advice whenever they want it. Many others do not, and are not sure where to start. The mentoring scheme aims to fill that gap. Having someone inside the profession to whom you can just pick up the phone might make all the difference for someone who is unsure whether or not a career as a barrister is for them, or how to go about pursuing one.

In 2020, six commercial barristers’ chambers (Fountain Court Chambers, Blackstone Chambers, Brick Court, Essex Court, One Essex Court Chambers and Three Verulam Buildings) came together to set up a mentoring scheme for students from groups currently underrepresented at the Commercial Bar. These groups include women, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, people with disabilities, LGBT+ people, those who have spent time in local authority care and those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The aim was to make a career at the Bar more accessible to people from a range of backgrounds by offering them regular contact with individual barristers who can offer information and advice. The hope is that the profession will be demystified and potential applicants will feel more comfortable and confident in pursuing it as a career. Ultimately, we want to create a more level playing field for applicants, including by giving an inside perspective on what it’s like to be a commercial barrister and to provide a source of encouragement for those who might not previously have considered this career route.

A mentee can expect regular contact with their mentor (whether in person or remotely). Topics of discussion might include: life at the Bar and in chambers; what different areas of work are like; general advice on the routes to pupillage and how to approach pupillage applications; an honest appraisal about the difficulties and prejudices that might be encountered in the course of a career; and work-life balance. But it is flexible, and mentoring works best when the mentee has thought carefully about what they want out of the relationship. There are limits, however: a mentor cannot help on drafting specific applications, or give confidential information about chambers’ pupillage interview, for example. They are there to offer general support and advice, not an inside track to a particular vacancy.

The main thing we are looking for in an applicant is the potential to pursue a career at the Bar. The emphasis is on potential; it would defeat the point of the scheme if it were only open to fully fledged pupil barristers or equivalents. You will need to show that you have the underlying intellectual ability of a future barrister by reference to your educational results, although the context of those results will also be relevant to the assessment. You will have to show some evidence of an interest in being a barrister but, again, this does not mean that we only take people who have already done mini-pupillages. An interest in relevant skills such as debating or mooting might help under this head. It is always important to have done some research about the sort of area of law you might be interested in, so that you can explain why you want to know more about it. Finally, make sure your form is well-written and error-free. Good drafting is a key legal skill that anyone can demonstrate even without legal content. Read your form over and over, and ask others to read it for you so that you make the best possible first impression.