King’s Counsel

[Thingsthatgo]

DS is still young- he hasn’t taken GSCEs yet, but he has ambitions to be a barrister, and later, King’s Counsel. He is predicted all 9s and had the highest CATs in his year group of 300. He is a confident speaker and is very motivated.
However, he goes to a regular state school and we have no useful connections. His plans and ambitions may change, but I want to be able to help him if there is anything we can do to make connections and get experience. Does anyone have any advice?

Read the book The Secret Barrister.
Becoming a barrister
How do you become a barrister? - Chambers Student Guide

get him to write letters to law firms to introduce himself and ask for sponsorship / work experience
get him a LinkedIn profile

Married to a lawyer here - he is too young to be doing networking on his behalf - you will look silly. And a Linkedin profile at his age also looks silly.

Encourage him to do debating, make sure he hits his academic targets and get into the best university he can from a law school perspective. Then he can do mooting competitions, get summer clerkships and the like.

Public speaking and debating skills will be useful in any profession, and the school may have societies, but seek them out.

Speak to a real live barrister. You'll be surprised who people know. I sort of know 2 barristers, one is a friend of a friend, and one is a child of a colleague.

Don't assume that a state school is inferior to an independent school. Some are very supportive. Speak to the school.
(Some fee-paying schools will definitely offer more privileges, but not all do. Some state schools are not supportive.)

He’s not too young to start thinking about work experience, but I wouldn’t see it as networking. That would be a bit cringey, and the ‘old boys club’ thing really isn’t that important in law these days.

Top top top grades are what matters, especially if he’s aiming for the bar. And of course the skills of speaking well and being a quick thinker.

I’m not a lawyer but I recruit lots of ex-lawyers into a linked field. I’d recommend he checks out the career party, including the terrible pay at the start of careers or in some specialisms.

I feel your question is actually wanting to ask 'could he become KC without having gone to private school/Oxbridge or have hefty connections ' as KC is by invite.

Thank you all for your advice. I really appreciate it. He started a debating club at school, with the support of his English teacher, which is going well.
He is also in the HPA after school group, who will be doing some careers stuff next year, so I am hoping they will have a lawyer in to chat to.
I’m hoping to take him into a courtroom so he can experience it for himself.

@Titasaducksarseyes, that is definitely part of my question. It feels a bit like a secret club that is hard to infiltrate.
I haven’t said that to him though.

Hi, I'm a law student about to start my third year.

As DS is in year 10/11, there's the Bar Mock Trials competitions - mooting competitions specifically for state school students. You could speak to his school about participating. Getting public speaking/mooting experience would be really useful. He could also join debate clubs. I think that's all that's available while he's still under 6th form age.

There is the Bar Placement Scheme for those in 6th form. I think this may be for socially mobile students specifically, but it includes placements with chambers (normally mini pupillages would only be for over 18s).

There is also some schemes put on by the Inns of Court for 6th formers: Griffin LAW by Gray's Inn, Discovery Days and Insight Events by Inner Temple are the ones that I'm aware of.

There are also some work experience opportunities for 6th form students put on by solicitors' firms, and online events by organisations like The Law University/BPP University, All About Law, Legal Cheek, Law careers.net.

Once he's in uni there will also be a lot more opportunities like mooting competitions, mini-pupillages, volunteering at places like Citizens Advice etc.

Take a look at Pathways to Law by the Sutton Trust- aimed at exposing those from a non legal/non privileged background to a career in law in an age appropriate way- believe it’s aimed at sixth form. I did it at that age, ended up deciding not to be a lawyer but the summer school they sent me on at Oxford University absolutely helped me get into a top London uni. Now have a very successful career in banking so ended up not becoming a lawyer but the Sutton Trust certainly helped break down barriers and improve access to university and career options that my state school would have struggled to support.

@xMonochromeRainbowx that’s really brilliant information! Thank you 🙏🏻

@user1471548941fantastic, thank you. I’ll take a look.

It hasn't been done by invite for years - it's done by application form and hefty application fee.

I do apologise, I'm going from what a barrister told me many years ago.

I’m a barrister.

Your son’s very young. He should keep hold of his dream. But he should live a bit first. Completely dedicated and committed Bar hopefuls do not necessarily make good barristers, especially if that commitment squeezes out other experience. Lots of barristers study non-law subjects as a degree or have other careers first, or both.

There have been a lot of good leads offered in this thread and a bit of googling will show all sorts of schemes, shadowing, marshalling etc.

The main thing is to secure the very best academic record he can, whether in law or in any other discipline. To be able to write really well is probably the single best skill for a barrister in civil practice.

But it’s a great way to earn a living if you can land in the right place. (Criminal and family practitioners do fantastic work but struggle for money for years at the start.)

A word of warning: your son should not be seduced by the wig and gown. The job is really not all stirring speeches and port at Inn dinners. There’s a lot of lonely graft.

Good luck to your son!

@Thingsthatgo

Your DS is a little young to get any formal experience but there’s no harm in him finding out more. Bear im mind he needs to be at least 16 to sit in on court cases, but he could apply for a Mini-Pupillage (shadowing a barrister) as work experience once he’s old enough. .
I’d recommend this book as background and for tips on the essential skills that barristers need. It has a 4.6/5 rating on Amazon https://www.lawbriefpublishing.com/product/mpw/
The author is a practising Barrister who’s mentored many would-be trainees & is very active/approachable on LinkedIn. He even gets a mention in the Secret Barrister book!