WOMEN AT THE BAR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVII, Issue 10806, 29 December 1926, Page 8

WOMEN AT THE BAR

WAITING FOR BRIEFS AND FAME.

After less than four years since their admission to the profession it is idle to attempt successful prognostication as to women's success at the Bar (says the Post")- The calling of a barrister is as personal a thing as that of an artist 3 and the barrister who reaches the highest rung of the ladder must rely chiefly on his or her own ability. . Like mem, women barristers must he prepared to face years of waiting for briefs, a period of difficulty which is increased in the case of women by the strong prejudice still obtaining against them as pleaders. The present, too, is a bad time for the Bar as a whole. Ihe boom in litigation which followed the war has subsided, and continuous industrial trouble leaves the commercial world very little money for law suits. Provided, however, that a woman is prepared to face at least five years before making much of an income, there is certainly no more fascinating and interesting profession, nor one yielding higher rewards to ability and industry. Qualifying for the Bar in England, in the case of a normally well-educated girl is a simple matter, and can be achieved while one is at the university or earning one's living at some other work The normal period of training is three vears, and this time is occupied bv passing examinations and eating dinners. The first thing to be done is to join an Inn of Court the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln s Inn, or Gray's Inn. The feepayable 011 joining an Inn as about £SO, and the new member becomes at once entitled to dine in Hall, to use the Library and Common Room, and to attend lectures, and, until Call, she is known as a student. „ . W ol i Eatino- dinners means dining in ±ia,u three or six nights a term for twelve terms, there being four terms in the The examination is divided into two narts, the Preliminary and the Final, each of which consists of four papers. The Council of Legal Education arranges lectures on all the examination subjects, but it is quite possible to pass the'examinations without going, to the lectures, attendance at which is not compulsory. Before taking any of the Bar examinations it is necessary to pass a creneral qualifying examination, .hut exemption from this is easily obtained by matriculation or other similar quaJi-

fication. . , . • After eating her dinners and passing her examination the student presents herself for Call by her Inn. For tins she must be; proposed by a Bencher and pay about. £IOO for stamps and fees. It "is usual after Call for a young barrister to read as 1 a pupil m some busy iunior barrister's chambers, the tee for this being 100 guineas for twelve months. In "this way she acquires a knowledge of the practice of the Courts, learns how to deal with papers and interview clients, and, generally, how to put her learning into- practice. After this she looks '.about for a room in o:ood chambers, joins a Circuit if she is doing Criminal or Common Law, puts up her name, and—waits for briefs and fame.