Geeklawyer wrote recently about his desire to leave a sinking ship. Since then he has written to a number of chambers. Many of these are new ones setting up shop and who are seeking both practitioners and punters.
It is quite remarkable the number of new chambers who never respond to replies. Geeklawyer sent his shiny impressive CV expecting a prompt reply. He was met only with the fusty silence of a cobwebbed Chambers crypt abandoned in distant ages. Several sets he was hopeful about appeared never to answer their phones & day in day out they were always away with just an answerphone response. Not a promising sign for a prospective tenant since one can imagine the opinion of instructing solicitors unable to reach a clerk. It seems that most of these were Mary Celeste chambers.
It seems according to Ruthie that many new chambers fold very early on. Geeklawyer also remembers that the emaciated tubercular set where he pupilled held a perilous and tenuous grip on viability: talk in the tea room was often of merging with an equally sickly set in the hope of flourishing (or at least surviving) together.
Nonetheless the hunt go on. Geeklawyer marvels that young fellows enter the profession in the hope of making a living. For many, if not most, the Bar seems to be what it was in the 17th Century: a leisured hobby for gentlemen of independent means; true for Geeklawyer but not the basis of a modern profession intending to attract the best.
That phrase...
GL - I feel confident.. that you will find an approoriate seat. Perhaps you could post a subtle comment on the new bar Council blog?
On the other hand… have you thought about the ‘judicial’ side? It may be, of course, that you are already serving our sceptred isle in this capacity.
I am only able to advise that Engand beat the West Indies tonight by one run…. and, mindful of Hedley Byrne v Heller et al… it is best that i do not tender any advice… welcome or unwelcome this night.
New chambers (like many other start up businesses) have a tendancy to fade like dragonflies after mating. The present climate is especially difficult, with a merry go round of barristers jumping to a new set of chambers in a desperate attempt to preserve their slice of an ever decreasing pool of revenue.
Ruthie recalls a particularly amusing incident at the start up of Cardinal Chambers (long since gone to the courtroom in the sky). No expense had been spared in the champagne and interior design for the opening party. However the stationery proudly proclaimed “Carnal Chambers” since the chambers logo obscured the letters d and i. The error proved prophetic since the chambers folded shortly after…
So GL theres an easy answer to your problem: become a solicitor. There may be a vacancy for a trainee in my office. But if your photocopying is better than your spelling.
No need for legal skills then? Explains why they hired you I suppose