The Bar of England and Wales is renowned for harbouring some of the finest legal minds in the common law world. Why don't these two eminent institutions interact more? The University of Bristol Law Club (UBLC) does an excellent job, selling the Bristol law student to the world and giving those who graduate from this law school the best possible start in their careers. UBLC provides countless oppor
tunities to meet with top law firms, learn about the inner workings of the law market, gain commercial awareness, and, above all, give every Bristol law student the chance to mix with the brightest and best the solicitors' profession has to offer. But what do they do for those who aspire to the Bar? We are a group of Bristol law students who feel that the drive for "the other side" of the profession is under-represented, and who want to see a change for law students at Bristol. We want to see potential barristers nurtured in the same way that potential solicitors are nurtured. We want to have practising barristers come and give us talks and extra-curricular education that will serve us well when it comes to pupillage interviews and, more importantly, our careers. We want to have barristers' careers fairs – such as the National Pupillage Fair in Lincoln's Inn every March – advertised and supported. We want more than just the mooting competitions. There should be mock trials, advocacy training, access to the Free Representation Unit, and other opportunities for aspiring barristers to hone their skills in order to succeed in an increasingly competitive market. We want more. The aspiring barristers among us do not have a voice in the running of the law school or UBLC, and the heavy bias towards becoming a solicitor has shown what happens if we are all treated the same – just "Bristol law students". We all have different goals, and those of us who wish to be called to the Bar do not deserve to be ignored. Those who set up this group hope to change the prevailing attitude at the University of Bristol, and provide the same quality of support to potential barristers that we have all enjoyed so far under the auspices of UBLC. The Bar is a profession which accepts individuals from all walks of life, every religion and none, and it does not discriminate on the grounds of anything which doesn't make a difference to how good you really are. Most importantly, YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A LAW STUDENT TO JOIN THIS GROUP. If you are intelligent, capable of making and understanding a strong argument, and willing to work hard (NB: very very hard), you have a good shot at going to the Bar. Tell your friends. The UBBS Founders.
