Welcome to my Pupillage fundraiser! WHAT IS PUPILLAGE? In order to qualify as a Barrister (Attorney) in England & Wales, candidates must pass several stages: 1) Academic stage - Law degree (3 years)2) Vocational stage - Bar Professional Training Course (1 year)3) Pupillage stage - Pupillage (1 year) Pupillage is the final stage of this development and is essentially on the job training with a Chambers (the Barrister equivalent of a law firm) who usually keep you as a tenant at the end, and from where you are then permitted to run your practice and build your career. This is the stage I have reached, but I come from a lower income background and so now I need YOUR support! ABOUT ME I am 29 years old and come from Leicestershire in England. I have two older sisters who both have children (2 boys and 2 girls). My father is a fabricator/welder and has been since he left school at 15. My mother also left school at a young age and works as a library assistant. My hobbies include combat sports, walking my dog (when I'm back home), cooking (and eating), politics and debating, and of course spending time with my friends!I am particularly passionate about the ideas of freedom and liberty, and issues surrounding free speech etc.I studied Law at BPP Law School, and then completed by Bar Professional Training Course at Nottingham Law School. I am currently working as an impartial Political Advisor to Members of the European Parliament (which doesn't pay as well as you might think!) THE STORY SO FAR It has been an extremely long and difficult journey up to now. I wanted to be a Barrister from rather a young age (roughly about 15 years old) but I was discouraged by teachers and even some family members originally, not because they didn’t think I was capable but they felt that I wouldn’t have a good chance of breaking into such an ‘elite’ profession. In other words, the bar isn’t for people like me; working class roots, lower income family, a bit of a mischievous lad in school... Consequently, I studied something else at University, but this desire to earn my living putting my skills to use giving people representation that need it, always rested at the back of my mind. Pursuing another career path made me realise even more how much I wanted to go to the Bar. Eventually I decided that I wouldn’t be content in life if I didn’t try, but having already done a degree I had to finance myself. My family didn’t earn enough to spare even a slight amount of money, so I moved back in with family members to keep costs down, sold my car and took a job with Leicestershire Police working 40 hours a week, and studied my LLB at the same time, both full time. During this time, I also wrote and self-published a book to help me generate a little extra cash, and this book was featured on BBC News which helped somewhat (but any writer will tell you earning money is a whole different story with self-published books! Nevertheless, finally in my life I felt like I was going somewhere that nobody could’ve predicted, and rising up from my background to make my friends and family proud and contribute something valuable to society. Working and studying law full time at the same time was awful, if I’m honest! I didn't have the opportunities to do voluntary work or work experience because I had to work, I didn't get the law school social life because I had to sacrifice my social life, I even lost a couple of friends as a result! I couldn’t go on trips or holidays or nights out, and I truly lived close to the breadline. I was from a poorer family, so I was used to it, but I must say that the added stress kind of forced me to care even more about getting through and passing my exams so that I could complete the Academic stage of my training. This whole experience was made much more difficult when me and my family had to support a close family member during a period of horrendous domestic violence and a violent rape that took place in our family home while the rest of the family were away. I do not know how me and my family got through this without my failing my studies, but it happened, and I can only thank the kindness and understanding of both friends and strangers in contributing to my ability to cope. I managed to get my 2:1 for my LLB, by some miracle, and then the next challenge was finding funding for the BPTC. Once again, I wasn’t really encouraged. Most of my loved ones thought I was crazy, the cost of training to be a Barrister was more than the annual income of both of my parents combined! How would I find this kind of money? How would I survive? Well, I managed to find funding from two charities that gave me an interest free loan, which helped cover my tuition fees, and I also made use of the Government’s Masters Loan Scheme. This allowed me to finance the Bar Professional Training Course, and also be able to catch up with my peers by doing pro-bono work and mini pupillages (which took a LOT of networking and competitions to get). Because I had missed out on these chances previously due to work, I needed to cram it in during the BPTC. I did pro-bono (free/voluntary) charity work on the Free Representation Unit, representing individuals in employment tribunals who could not afford to pay for legal representations. I worked on the Innocence Project, looking at the cases of people who have a credible grounds for claiming innocence despite being already in prison, and preparing their case for the Criminal Cases Review Commission. I won the Inner Temple’s Mock Trial Competition, and was consequently awarded a prize of 2 mini Pupillages. I was offered the ‘Provosts Award for Excellence’ for my advocacy by the University of Law. I did all that I needed to do to establish my foundations for building my profession, and also to show both others and myself that this was what I really wanted, and in particular that I wanted to work in criminal law (annoyingly the worst paid due to those blasted cuts!). I tried to dedicate every free moment of my life to working hard and being creative and resourceful, so I could get to where I am despite where I had come from. A huge setback came half way through the BPTC (which is notoriously difficult and has a huge failure rate). I was knocked off my feet and hospitalised with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. This is a complication of shingles in the facial nerve area. Essentially what started out as a bout of shingles to my left-side face was misdiagnosed and consequently turned into Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, paralysing the left side of my face completely so that I had to tape my eye shut and struggled to speak properly. After introvenous medication, the use of muscles was restored after 3 months, but the sensory nerves in that side of my face no longer work to this day. Nevertheless, even then, the moment I was discharged I went back to classes, conscious of the fact that if attendance dropped below a certain amount (even for illness) I would be thrown off the course. I attended classes with a bandaged-up face, dosed up on steroid medication and painkillers and barely able to speak. It was truly one of the most physically and mentally difficult points of the journey. Somehow, I managed to do it, once again perhaps by some miracle! And I graduated the BPTC with a 'Very Competent' grade, and a Distinction at LLM (Masters), which made my family and friends extremely proud of me and seemed to make it all worth it. Yet the next challenge, pupillage, was starting to peek its head over the horizon. Statistically, I wasn’t going to get it...they are notoriously difficult to come by and there is a disproprtionately higher number of applicants than pupillages. Well, after bombing my first interview massively (what a lesson and experience that was), I somehow (perhaps by some miracle?) secured pupillage at a Chambers in London that I had thought I wouldn’t have a chance in. I even felt like I had messed up a couple of things in that interview, but if that was the case those things were clearly graver for me than for them. This Chambers was also the Chambers I most wanted to join after meeting the folk there and seeing what a great bunch of people they are and how I clicked with them. Finally I felt like the end was in sight! I am due to begin pupillage in October; however, I am back in the position I was in at the start of my journey (only this time with the added debt behind me). The pupillage award is set at the minimum amount (regulated by the Bar Council), as is common with many criminal sets where government legal aid cuts have driven the amount of available money down to a pittance. Unfortunately, this minimum amount isn’t enough to live in London with the ability to cover high rent, bills, food and keep on top of my debts (financial difficulty can end your career as a Barrister if you're not careful). Doing all of that on the minimum amount is going to be near impossible, however I refuse to give up. I have come so far, out of my own pocket, and proved to those around me that so far, the bar is as much a place for someone like me, as it is for any Oxbridge or Harvard candidate, and that hard work can get you there! I admit though, that I fear now that what can be considered the opportunity of a lifetime is to slip through my fingers all because of money and having no family or friends capable of helping me. I feel that I have more than proved that I am suitable and worthy, and evidently those in the industry agree, hence the offer of pupillage. Nevertheless, I fear that the dream career I have worked so hard for, genuinely motivated by the desire to provide justice and representation to those who need it, to speak up for people like my family member, to contribute to upholding the principles of fair trials and our freedoms and liberties, will be snatched away from me just because of my background. Consequently, I am trying to find ways to supplement the minimum pupillage award. I want to be able to focus 100% on my pupillage so I can take advantage of the opportunity and become the best Barrister that I can be. That way, all of this investment of time and money will have been put to good use, allowing me to represent people accused of crimes or victims of crimes, to the highest standard, and provide access to justice to many from backgrounds who wouldn't ordinarily get it. I want to be able to uphold justice, represent those who need representation, and play my part in the area that I truly love and am passionate about. It is not easy for me to appeal to others for help, perhaps it's my ego, but I am left with little choice, and I feel that this isn't simply a donation but an investment in helping someone better their own life, and develop a career where one can give back to others. I am lucky to have been able to fight through the Academic and Vocational Stage of my training, but all of that will be a waste of several years and a lot of money if I am forced to stop now and surrender to the idea that the bar isn't for people from my background. My experiences have been difficult, but made easier by the kindness and genorisity of others both inside and outside of the profession, and it is that kindness and genorosity of others that I appeal to now.Please consider donating to support my pupillage stage. It will allow me to finally have sufficient funds to live in London during my training, without falling behind with law school repayments, and without starving. Having that extra support will allow me to 100% focus on pupillage and training without the extra mental stress of financial turmoil.Please consider donating, and know that this is not merely a donation but an investment in the future of someone who absolutely wants to use his profession to do good in the world, speaking up for people who have no voice in and outside of the courtroom, and upholding the freedoms and liberties that many of us take for granted.Thank you for reading this long essay, and I hope it gave you some insight and context regarding the situation. Please give what you can and know that your donations, no matter how small, will change my life and countless others too. Thank you! (P.S. If I can ask you, once you have donated, to try to share with 10 other people who might donate; or share on email/whatsapp/facebook etc, I would be hugely grateful!)
