"Britain's top divorce lawyer" Ayesha Vardag has unveiled a new blog to spread the word about her forthcoming nuptials to her colleague, Stephen Bence. Readers are left in no doubt of Vardag's commitment to attaining excellence in all things.

1. The wedding will be held in Britain's top cathedral

"It is the most immense privilege to be able to engage in the sacrament of marriage in a place so suffused with history," writes Vardag of Winchester Cathedral.

Yet, adds the solicitor and barrister who enjoyed spells at Linklaters, Weil Gotshal and 4 New Square before starting her own firm, a personal touch will be applied: "even though it’s in perhaps the most beautiful and grandest cathedral in England, this is going to be different. This is going to be completely ‘us’."

2. Top guests will arrive by top modes of transport

Arrival, it appears, will be by steam train and Rolls Royce.

3. A top mass will be held

"The full, sung, mass, will be by Monteverdi..." explains Vardag. "It will be sung by people who are stellar singers, some at international professional level, but all of who are our friends and guests at the wedding."

4. Vardag will be marrying a top husband

Britain's top divorce lawyer's second husband-to-be Stephen Bence did some impressive CV-building before he joined Vardags, Vardag's law firm, as director of strategy in 2012. The blog reveals that Bence "read Astrophysics at Cambridge for his PhD and did his field work up a giant mountain in Hawaii, where, after passing through six different forms of vegetative habitat to reflect the changing climate and significant hypoxia, you get to the world-leading astronomical observatory where Stephen worked out how stars throw out matter in the process of their creation."

5. Bence will give Vardag a top ring

"My ring," discloses Vardag, "is a Harry Winston peridot and diamond affair, not designed to be an engagement ring at all. Peridots are among the most ancient of precious stones, and match both Stephen’s and my eyes. The side shoulders are diamond and have a very Great Gatsby feel to them. The ring caught my eye amid the fields of diamond rings and the periodot spoke to me as peridots spoke to Cleopatra thousands of years ago."

6. Glamour will be added to the occasion by Vardag's top heritage

Proclaims the top divorce lawyer: "I’m as much Pashtun princess as Scottish farm girl and Oxford bluestocking."

7. The styling will be top class

"My hair," confides Vardag, "will have been done by Tom at Nicky Clark, who has cut my hair since I was 22 years old; my makeup by the artist who styled me for my first glossy magazine feature in Easy Living and the photographer will be from the same shoot. My dress, and our daughters’ bridesmaids’ dresses, will be painstakingly made by my mother, who has extraordinary creativity and sartorial training now rare."

8. A top reception will be held in Vardag's top gaffe

Even the trees in Vardag's charming horse-filled garden (pictured) are top ones, with some yielding delicious fruits, and others boasting incredible genealogy, as the blog details:

"The garden has apples, pears, plums, figs, blackberries, loganberries and an ancient mulberry tree cut from the one in Christ’s College, Cambridge, under which Milton, aptly enough, wrote Paradise Regained."

9. The couple will jet off on a top honeymoon

To Bence's old stomping ground, Hawaii. And the top guests are paying!

"We have said for years," imparts Vardag, "that if we married we would go to Hawaii on honeymoon, and indeed so we shall. We’ll probably go via San Francisco on the way out and LA on the way back. If you wish to give us a wedding gift, therefore, please buy us a piece of that trip.

The full "VardagBenceMarriage" blog is here.

UK Statistics Authority issues blow to Ministry of Justice.

Minister for the Courts and Legal Aid Shailesh Vara has received an embarrassing letter from UK Statistics Authority chief Sir Andrew Dilnot that criticises the MoJ's use of barrister earnings statistics.

It states that the MoJ "could have increased compliance" with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, before highlighting a specific claim made in a press release that criminal barristers' average earnings are £84,000 per year. The letter continues:

"We understand that this figure represents the mean fee income from public funds for fulltime barristers where any barrister with a fee income of less than £10,000 is excluded. This figure includes VAT, which barristers must pay to HM Revenue and Customs, and expenses such as travel costs. Use of the mean, rather than the median, results in a higher estimate as the calculation is influenced by a small number of larger payments."

Read the letter in full here:

Images Letterfromsirandrewdilnottoshaileshvaramp1303201 Tcm97-43693

It's illegal to call yourself a barrister when you've never been called to the Bar, but a lack of appetite for enforcing the law means it's possible to do so and avoid sanction.

This story doesn't distil neatly into a single catchy opening sentence. But the tale of Bar graduate and Tory councillor Monika Juneja and her right — or otherwise — to call herself a barrister is an extraordinary one. So let's start from the beginning.

In 2001, Juneja enrolled as a student member of Gray's Inn, before going on to apparently gain a "Competent" on the Bar Vocational Course (now the Bar Professional Training Course). Unlike most graduates of the course, she was not called to the Bar, and having not secured a pupillage she proceeded to work, amongst other things, as what she termed a "locum lawyer".

Ten years later Juneja was elected as Guildford Borough Councillor for Burpham. On her Register of Members Disclosable Interests she listed herself as a barrister, as well as on other documents.

Four months ago getSurrey ran a story pointing out that Juneja had used the title of "barrister" despite not being called to the Bar. In response, Guildford Borough Council (GBC) commissioned an independent investigation into the matter. The individual conducting the investigation proceeded to contact the Bar Council to find out the rules governing such things. It has since emerged that the very junior member of the Bar Council's staff who replied got their advice completely wrong.

The Bar Council's statement to the investigation — which can be viewed in full here — claims: "It is not an offence to simply call yourself a barrister in this country even if not called to the Bar of England and Wales" as long as it's not in connection with the provision of legal services.

Section 181 of the Legal Services Act states otherwise:

S181 Unqualified person not to pretend to be a barrister

(1) It is an offence for a person who is not a barrister—

(a) wilfully to pretend to be a barrister, or

(b) with the intention of implying falsely that that person is a barrister to take or use any name, title or description.

Relying on the Bar Council's advice, the investigation completely exonerated Juneja from any wrong-doing.

Having read the investigation and spotted the error, we contacted the Bar Council, which after a brief investigation of its own issued this statement:

“Responding to an enquiry, a junior member of staff in our Records Office volunteered the information that it was not a criminal offence for an unqualified person to call themselves a barrister. This is not correct, we apologise for that mistake and we have since clarified this matter with the enquirer. We are currently looking into the details of this error and taking steps to ensure that it does not happen again.”

The matter was then transferred to the Bar Standards Board (BSB), which penned a rather embarrassed letter to GBC, offering its apologies for the Bar Council's error before proceeding to state that "it will be clear that there are implications for the investigation report." Those "implications", the BSB added, "are of course a matter for you." The letter can be viewed here.

A quick scan of the GBC investigation report — which can be viewed in full here — reveals how heavily it is based on that erroneous Bar Council email. Amongst other things it states:

"...on the basis that use of the word Barrister to describe employment when not holding out to undertake reserved legal activities is not an offence and the General Bar Council accept that the word Barrister may be used by anyone there is nothing further to comment on. It is clear to me that the Councillor has done nothing wrong in the office she holds and my overall conclusion is that this specific matter may be closed."

Elsewhere the report states:

"...there is nothing wrong for anyone to say they are a barrister when they are not admitted to the Bar. Whilst this may and does appear strange to a reasonable man in the street who would think they are a practising barrister there is nothing wrong unless and until someone who describes them self as such does so with intent to undertake reserved legal activities."

So, did GBC commission a new report? Er, no.

At the end of last week GBC provided Legal Cheek with this statement:

“Following the investigation into complaints against Cllr Monika Juneja, there has been further contact with the Bar Standards Board. We passed this information to the independent person conducting the investigation and no changes have been made to the report conclusions. The matter remains closed.”

We passed this onto the Bar Council, which referred us to the BSB, which declined to elaborate on this previously-issued statement:

“An individual needs to have been called to the Bar to use the title ‘barrister’. If an individual has not been called to the Bar, they are not a barrister and so would not come within our regulatory remit."

Finally, we contacted Juneja herself, who indicated that she had understood it was OK for Bar graduates to use the barrister title in limited circumstances — as it had been before the section of Legal Services Act mentioned above was implemented in 2010. Indeed, Juneja would still be able to call herself a barrister if she had been called to the Bar, as she was eligible to be upon completion of the Bar Vocational Course in 2001.

Juneja added that now, 13 years after finishing her Bar training, she was looking into being called to the Bar as a way to ensure she isn't held to have breached any rules. Finally, she asked whether it would be fair to expect her to understand the rules when the Bar Council itself had got things so wrong in the advice it gave to the investigation.

The moral of this story? That the rules governing use of the 'barrister' title are a mess. Just look at all these ridiculous stories of non-practising barristers up to no good that frequently grace Legal Cheek.

Award the title of barrister upon completion of pupillage rather than on "call to the Bar" and none of this would happen. But how would providers of the Bar Professional Training Course, which make good money effectively selling the title of "barrister" to students who have low chances of gaining a pupillage, feel about that?

The Jackson reforms have placed new demands on lawyers specialising in civil adversarial work. Hardwicke barrister Gemma Witherington tells Bar student Alex Pritchard-Jones about six qualities that wannabe litigators must possess to thrive in a much-changed environment.

1. An ability to assess risk

The curtailing of no win-no fee arrangements means solicitors and barristers need to pick their cases very carefully if they are to be commercially successful. Since the Jackson reforms were implemented in April 2013, Witherington says that she and her colleagues "are very rarely charging success fees."

This, she continues, "has quite a big impact as previously we were spreading the risk of signing up cases because the 'uplift' [or success fee] was compensating us for the cases we didn't win. Now we are charging no uplift whatsoever, which means we are analysing cases very carefully when they come in because we no longer have that cushion of an uplift to fall back on."

Accordingly, chambers and firms want their pupils and trainees to be able to assess risk, and at the application and interview stage hope to see them use their previous experiences — be it pro bono work or some form of work experience — to demonstrate an aptitude for sound analysis.

2. Super-human powers of organisation

November's Court of Appeal decision to deny the law firm representing Tory MP Andrew Mitchell its costs in the "Plebgate" libel action put the frighteners on litigators throughout land. The hardline judgment left Mitchell's firm, Atkins Thomson, a whopping half a million pounds out of pocket for the simple reason that it submitted documents relating to its budget a day late.

"Diarising key dates and making sure you don't miss deadlines becomes even more important," says Witherington, "as we know since Mitchell the circumstances in which relief from sanctions are granted are much rarer."

With the legal profession still reeling from the severity of the Mitchell judgment, this year's wannabe litigators may find favour from interviewers by portraying themselves not simply as organised, but super-organised. Juggling a range of different activities with studying is good practice, and the sort of thing chambers and firms will be keen to hear about.

3. A willingness to fight hard

The Jackson reforms are achieving the impressive feat of making litigators even more cut-throat, with the stricter rules being used as an additional stick with which to beat opponents.

"Parties are seeking to exploit points they'd never have taken before," reports Witherington. "If they notice a witness statement is served a day out of time, or if a cost budget doesn't have a signature on, parties are very quick to call up the other side now and suggest that they go to strike them out, or invite the other side to make an application for relief from sanctions — and indeed they are even opposing relief from sanctions a lot more than they used to...It's a more cut-throat, strategic and tougher environment to work in."

Lawyers-to-be need to find a way to show that they're up for a scrap.

4. A co-operative nature

In showing that one is up for a scrap, it's very important not to come across as a psycho — because, somewhat counter-intuitively, the Jackson reforms have made cooperation more important than ever. Cooperation with those on your side, that is.

Again, explains Witherington, it comes back to the fear of missing those deadlines:

"Working together closely between counsel and solicitors from an early stage so deadlines aren't missed has become increasingly important," she says.

5. Ease with responsibility

An increase in professional negligence cases arising from — you guessed it — lawyers missing deadlines and breaching much more strictly-enforced procedural rules has compounded litigators' post-Jackson blues. What this means in practice is enhanced stress levels, says Witherington.

Legal hopefuls should consider emphasising their devotion to extracurricular activities that illustrate an ability to switch off (transcendental meditation, stamp collecting...?) while also providing evidence of head prefect-like enthusiasm for responsibility.

6. A commitment to keeping up-to-date

Lawyers are nervously gauging the effect of the Jackson reforms by monitoring each new decision. The good news is that the hardline seems to be abating slightly, with hope that the Mitchell decision represents a high water mark in judicial ruthlessness. Top chambers and firms expect students to be aware of the latest developments.

"It's absolutely essential that you're keeping up-to-date with case law," says Witherinton. "Even on a weekly basis now there are new decisions coming through and decisions being overturned. And so what we do in chambers is have a network of people keeping up to date, checking different blogs and websites...and we share all of that information."

Listen to Pritchard-Jones' discussion with Witherington (both of whom are pictured) in full in the podcast below.

Top human rights chambers' website goes down every time rookie barrister Amal Alamuddin is pictured with George Clooney.

This latest outage appears to have been caused by a huge wave of global internet traffic generated by pictures of Doughty Street's Alamuddin on safari with Clooney in Tanzania.

When contacted by Legal Cheek, Doughty Street insisted that its website has been running as normal.

Barrister with active practising certificate is confident that he has unravelled mystery of flight MH370.

Practising barrister Michael Shrimpton has published a blog post purporting to reveal precise details of the fate of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.

According to Shrimpton, who was called to the Bar in 1983 and practised from Tanfield Chambers until 2002 before setting up on his own, the missing plane was shot down by a missile that was fired from a Chinese submarine.

Writing on Vetarans Today, Shrimpton reports:

"At 0130 hours local time last Saturday, March 8th (this is being written on the 15th) a Chinese SSK, believed to be a 636 Kilo class, shot down a Malaysian airliner, Boeing 777-2H6ER, 9M-MRO, Captain Zaharie Shah in command, off the coast of South Vietnam. The Chinese murdered a total of 239 people, all the souls on board.

"The Kilo surfaced but stayed hull-down, i.e. presented a low radar signature. She fired a Chinese-made copy of the excellent Hughes Aircraft AIM-54A Phoenix missile, supplied to Iran in the 1970s..."

Shrimpton's flight MH370 article follows a host of previous eye-catching claims, including an assertion that Madeleine McCann was "murdered on the orders of German Intelligence".

Here is Shrimpton's listing on the Bar Standards Board's (BSB) Barristers' Register.

We got in touch with Shrimpton and asked him about his claims. He told us that he was expressing views "as an intelligence commentator and not a barrister". He continued:

"Barristers are not ordinarily involved in intelligence work, however since I was invited by General Pincochet to represent him in negotiations in Washington designed to secure his release to Chile 'barrister' has only been my day job. Access to high-level intelligence sources that a barrister wouldn't ordinarily have has been part of my life since the Pinochet case."

Shrimpton also stated that he had been involved in the search for Madeleine McCann as "part of team who located her in a vessel off Morocco" during a rescue operation that was subsequently "blocked in Whitehall".

A spokesperson for the BSB said: "We don’t comment on individual cases unless a disciplinary tribunal has been scheduled."

No complaint has been made against Michael Shrimpton in relation to MH370 or Madeleine McCann.

Baby barrister at civil legal aid set tells of bleak pupillage existence.

Amid all the news about cuts to criminal legal aid, it's easy to forget that times are also very hard for practitioners in publicly-funded areas of civil law — particularly at the junior end of the profession.

But a post published yesterday on the Young Legal Aid Lawyers' (YLAL) Gravy Train blog has offered a reminder of how tight money is for junior lawyers working in civil legal aid.

Writing anonymously, a 29 year-old pupil gives an account of life at a set specialising in immigration and asylum, crime, housing and family law. The pupil, who says that they earn £14,000 a year without specifying where they are based, states:

"It’s not possible to survive on my pupillage award alone. I’ve often gone hungry and am unable to buy anything but the most basic necessities or cope with any emergency spending requirements (e.g. my bike got stolen, and I have never been able to replace it). I still haven’t been able to afford any practitioners texts, my wig and gown, or to start paying back my student loan."

Changes to civil legal aid that came into effect last year mean that many types of cases are no longer eligible for public funds, with divorce, child contact, welfare benefits, employment, clinical negligence and housing law now qualifying for legal aid only in very limited circumstances.

Keep an eye on the Gravy Train for other tales that dispel the myth of the legal aid fat cat.

Televised murder trial turns South African barrister into cult figure.

The star of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, defence counsel Barry Roux, has become an internet meme, with tributes focusing, in particular, on his attachment to a phrase UK law students are often told to avoid: "I put it to you".

So far the best of the Roux-based creations are two hip hop parodies in his honour. The first, which has been published on YouTube, begins: "I put it to you, that it is true, everything you say I will misconstrue..." and proceeds to make fun of Roux's high-pitched voice and sometimes rambling style.

The second, on SoundCloud, is called 'I'm Barry' and is set to the tune of Pharrell Williams' 'Happy'. It has got a great chorus: "Because I'm Barry....Come along if you feel like mixing it with the Roux. Because I'm Barry...Come along if you feel like innocence is the truth. Because I'm Barry...Come along if you really want me to put it to you."

Barry Roux parodies can also be found on Twitter, with the leading one boasting almost 15,000 followers.

Follow @BarryRouxLaw

Tweets by @BarryRouxLaw

An oldie but a goodie to exacerbate ease the pain of returning to work from the Easter bank holiday — or, in the case of revision-swamped law students, not having a bank holiday at all.

Via Office Spam.

Did legal blog YourBarristerBoyfriend bring human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin and film star together?

Few anticipated what was to follow when, in August last year, Doughty Street junior barrister Amal Alamuddin was named the "hottest woman barrister in London" by the hit blog YourBarristerBoyfriend.

Two months later, on 28 October, George Clooney was spotted out dining with a young barrister at Berners Tavern in central London. The identity of the legal rookie? None other than Alamuddin. Had George been reading YourBarristerBoyfriend, and then somehow cherry-picked the Oxford-educated human rights lawyer from the list, wondered conspiracy theorists?

Is George Clooney dating a barrister hottie??? pic.twitter.com/GIhaOHaOCp

— Hottie Experts (@BarristerHottie) October 29, 2013

On 18 February this year Alamuddin, 36, and Clooney, 52, were spotted together again at a private screening of the Hollywood star's latest film, The Monuments Men. The sighting came about after a guest at the event posted a photo on Instagram showing the pair together.

Last month, on 13 March, gossip about an Alamuddin-Clooney romance went into overdrive after the tabloids carried photos of them together in the Seychelles, where they apparently went after enjoying a safari in Tanzania.

This pic of Amal Alamuddin and George Clooney is *amazing* http://t.co/MxGqH7jgIl pic.twitter.com/trrYFLkr0Q

— Hottie Experts (@BarristerHottie) March 20, 2014

Five days later the duo were papped leaving the Carlyle Hotel in New York.

#GeorgeClooney has a new girlfriend! Is this one a keeper? #AmalAlamuddin is pretty, smart & successful! pic.twitter.com/Yes7hzUH3E

— Heels.com (@highheels) March 20, 2014

And now, according to People magazine, Alamuddin and Clooney are getting married! Sources told the US gossip magazine that the couple celebrated their engagement on Wednesday evening at a dinner with friends in Los Angeles, with Alamuddin apparently sporting a "huge ring".

Inside George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin's sweet getaway: http://t.co/60ti0OGkpB pic.twitter.com/dKduD4zDvt

— POPSUGAR (@POPSUGAR) April 26, 2014

Responding to the news, YourBarristerBoyfriend's Sonia van Gilder Cooke told Legal Cheek:

"Naturally we assume that George has always been an avid reader of YourBarristerBoyfriend. We like to think that our Hottest Female Barristers list is to George Clooney what the Victoria's Secret catalogue is to Leonardo di Caprio.

"We personally select who goes on our lists, so it's good to have our intuitions about Amal's star quality confirmed.

"George and Amal's coupling heralds the end of the bimbo age — quality men don't just want arm candy anymore, they want women who are their equals (or betters) in looks, intelligence and accomplishments."

For more on Alamuddin, there is a comprehensive profile of her career to date on Forbes, detailing how she started her career at top US law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, before switching to the Bar of England and Wales and joining Doughty Street.

Update 16:30: Doughty Street Chambers has issued this statement:

"The barristers and staff of Doughty Street Chambers offer their best wishes and congratulations to Ms Amal Alamuddin, a member of Chambers, and Mr George Clooney on their engagement to be married."

Practising barrister faces bomb hoax charges under Section 51(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 for Olympics terrorist nuclear attack warning.

Former Tanfield Chambers barrister Michael Shrimpton is to stand trial later this year accused of falsely notifying the British government to prepare for an Olympics terrorist nuclear attack.

Shrimpton, who used to hold a position as an Immigration Appeal Judge, contacted the Ministry of Defence in the run up to the 2012 Olympics and told them that a nuclear weapon stolen from sunken Russian submarine the Kursk had been smuggled into Britain.

The barrister — who now practises from his own chambers — apparently went on to outline a plot to sail a disused German submarine carrying the stolen nuclear weapon up various rivers and then detonate it during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.

Shrimpton has previously claimed that Madeleine McCann was "murdered on the orders of German Intelligence". More recently, he asserted that Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 was shot down by a Chinese missile.

At a preliminary hearing at Southwark Crown Court last month, Judge Alistair McCreath set a date of November 10 for Shrimpton's trial. In doing so, he dismissed a prosecution motion to order Shrimpton to undergo a psychiatric examination.

Shrimpton told Legal Cheek that he viewed the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) prosecution of him as "malicious" and said he did not expect the trial to go ahead. He added:

"That matter was listed for trial on the 17 March, but was very properly with respect stood out by the learned judge until 10 November 2014. I shall again be ready, but frankly I do not expect the trial to commence.

"The contested qualified intelligence briefing I provided to the Secretary of State for Defence in 2012 was substantially correct. No minister of justice, frankly, could proceed with the prosecution in those circumstances, not least since another prosecution witness has provided a second statement to the CPS, confirming that he passed the intelligence to me. That is say the 'hoax' I am accused of perpetrating consisted in its entirety of information supplied to me by a prosecution witness. I do not doubt the good faith of that witness, indeed as I have observed the intelligence he asked me to pass on has subsequently been confirmed. The prosecution with respect is an obvious nonsense."

Previously: Flight MH370 conspiracy theory barrister used to be an immigration judge; Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 was shot down by Chinese missile, claims practising barrister.

The advice by 11KBW barrister Sean Jones QC — delivered via the #MarriedtotheBar Twitter hashtag — is essential reading for the film star ahead of his wedding to Doughty Street's Amal Alamuddin.

This is amazing...

Dear George some things you should know about being #MarriedToTheBar ...

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

1.

Get used to being criticised in numbered sub-points #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

2.

The Hallway is for Rolling Luggage, the stairs for dead papers #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

3.

Of course she loves you more than the job bt she HAS to get these submissions finished so cld you go on your own this time? #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

4.

If you find a random DVD enclosed with her instructions never ever watch it. #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

5.

Do not borrow highlighter pens or Post It notes without permission and NEVER touch her hole punch #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

6.

Nothing spices up an otherwise trivial domestic row like being cross-examined relentlessly #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

7.

The Beatles did not write the White Book #MarriedtotheBAr

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

8.

You probably have not appreciated how often your opinions have involved non-sequiturs - you soon will #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

9.

If she is describing how a judge disagreed with her, but you think the judge had a point - keep that to yourself #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

10.

That thing you said, but didn't mean, and have forgotten. A barrister never forgets. #MarriedtottheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

11.

Some of her male friends wear silk stockings, shorts and patent leather shoes with buckles. Act like that is normal #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

12.

Never ever use "Grayling" as your safe word #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

13.

Probably best to learn the difference between "infer" and "imply" immediately - it will save you pain in the long run. #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

14.

Your briefs are likely to be less impressive than hers #MarriedtotheBar

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 28, 2014

Just don't tell Jones's wife about the tips...

Can't help but feel that however grateful George Clooney may be for the advice, if Penny finds out about #MarriedtotheBar I'm a dead man

— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) April 29, 2014

Follow @seanjones11kbw

A group of trainees, lawyers and law lecturers distil their exam preparation wisdom into seven-second Vine clips (click on the top left corner of each image to turn on the sound).

Felicity Maxwell, first seat trainee at Mayer Brown

"Make the time to sit a full past paper in exam conditions for each of the exams you're sitting."

In doing so, Maxwell stresses the importance of "writing the answers out fully". She adds: "This gives you a good idea of the format of the questions and how long it seems to take you personally to write your answers.

Katie Brookes, senior lecturer at the University of Law

"Practice helps overcome poor time management due to nerves and lack of familiarity with the format of the paper."

Elaborating on the theme introduced by Maxwell, Brookes highlights poor time management as the major reason for students' under-performance.

Shiv Daddar, second seat trainee at Norton Rose Fulbright

"Revise a mixture of topics and subjects in a day. That way your mind will stay engaged."

"Instead of allotting one specified subject to study all day, mix it up," adds Daddar. "Switching subjects around regularly will keep your mind engaged and stimulated and will ensure you are well prepared for all your exams."

Charlie Raffin, barrister at Hardwicke

"Planning is everything."

Barristers are known for their ability to think on their feet, so international arbitration specialist Raffin bucks the Bar stereotype with his call for students to not simply "plan everything", but to "then revise that plan to make sure you make the best use of time."

Giles Proctor, dean of Kaplan Law School

"To optimise your exam time divide the number of questions you have by the time that you have."

Have done so, "stick to your timings", urges Proctor.

Charlie Clendon, first seat trainee at Mayer Brown:

"Flowcharts can be a powerfully simple way of both structuring your answers and your revision notes".

Clendon reckons flowcharts are particularly useful for law revision because "a lot of legal questions involve following a structured plan, with a series of necessary steps you should take." Just don't lose sight of the case names. "Remember, each point is usually supported by an authority. These are just as important as the principle itself, so don’t forget them!" he adds.

Faheem Ahmad, lecturer at the University of Law

"A consolidation timetable will save you a lot of time in the course and in the run up to exams."

In other words, think ahead as to how you're going to absorb all that information, especially if you're a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) student, and then concentrate on remembering what's important.

Kate Luton, third seat trainee at Norton Rose Fulbright

"Have a clear and methodical plan of how the law will apply to each type of exam question"

“The study and the practice of law is all about the application of your legal knowledge, not simply a memory test of what you can remember from the statute books and cases you may have read," continues Luton.

Stephen Wells, Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) tutor at Kaplan Law School

"Remember: the examiner wants to give you marks."

The powers that be want to pass you, "just give them an excuse to do it" explains Wells.

Feeling the pain of law revision? Enjoy some distractions on our Facebook page.

First you get hit by the law schools selling their barrister dream, then the Tarot Card readers get you...

We did some digging and found the relevant reading, which Tarot Card reader "Ivor Fireman" has helpfully published on his website. It explains to the barrister:

"Security is your main issue. But you've been delaying an important decision, holding off making changes. I see victory; you've big ambitions and are very independent. You always help other people but it's time to think about you and let go emotionally. The marriage card is here, there are going to be big changes. It will be difficult but the fresh beginning is what you need, it's what you deserve."

Send your photos and tip-offs anonymously to tips@legalcheek.com.

Yet more drastic action forced on criminal sets by the legal aid cuts.

Argent Chambers will be no more — in name, at least — from next Tuesday after it announced that it is to leave its premises and move in with mixed civil and crime set Goldsmith Chambers on 6 May.

The new combined outfit will be called The Chambers of Anthony Metzer QC at Goldsmith Chambers. While headed by former Argent chief Metzer, it will drop the Argent name and be based at Goldsmith's current offices in the Temple.

The merger will see all 35 of Argent's barristers, plus its four pupils, move to the new site. Argent's culture of flexible working will apparently help everyone fit into the building. One voluntary redundancy is believed to have been made among the set's support staff.

Argent senior clerk Michael Martin told Legal Cheek that the tie-up had been forced by the legal aid cuts, which have left the cost of Argent's premises prohibitively high. He added that the set's situation was very different to that which faced Tooks Chambers, the set headed by high profile silk Michael Mansfield QC which was forced out of business last year. Martin explained:

"We are not doing a Tooks. We are very busy in terms of work volumes, but the reduction in fees from legal aid work has obviously hit all criminal sets. The issue is that the building we are in is too expensive. We should have got out of it 2-3 years ago."

"But things have never got out control. Following previous merger discussions that didn't come off, we met and merged with Goldsmiths in six weeks."

Barristers and clerks have spent the week clearing out possessions from Argent's current Bell Yard premises, as Legal Cheek spies spotted.

Like a host of other criminal chambers, Argent is not offering a pupillage this year, nor is it taking on mini-pupils. But it currently has four pupils on its books, and Goldsmith Chambers has three, adding up to a whopping seven wannabe tenants. Nevertheless, Martin insisted that the set's current pupils would not be affected by the changes.

Kaplan Law School is to discontinue its Bar Professional Course (BPTC) from September 2014.

Kaplan says it is "working closely with the Bar Standards Board (BSB) to put in place a range of options for those preparing to study in September 2014".

Kaplan adds that current BPTC students won't be affected, with "all assessments to take place as scheduled and resits to run as expected". A spokesperson for the law school said:

"We are proud of the school’s high quality of provision and it is with regret that the economics of the course have forced this decision."

In response to the news, the BSB has announced that prospective BPTC students for 2014-2015 who have accepted offers from Kaplan will be able to re-nominate their three preferred provider institutions. To facilitate this, for this year only the BSB has said that BPTC providers can exceed their validated number of course places.

Kaplan itself has agreed a deal with the University of Law for its 2014-2015 accepted candidates to take up a place on the University of Law BPTC at a discounted rate. Students who choose to attend the University of Law, where fees cost £18,175 relative to Kaplan’s £17,350, will receive a £1,500 discount, placing their fees at £16,675.

Because it's important that other road users know you're a lawyer.

Vulgar! Brilliant!

No! Yeah!

*Shudders* *Smiles approvingly*

Really? Really!

Lame Claim!

Arghhh! Ye-haa!

Jeers Cheers!

Narcissistic Altruistic!

Facepalm High five!

Follow @LegalCheek_Tom

Positioning itself as cool, unfussy and cheap would have made the doomed Kaplan Law School Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) less vulnerable to competition from bigger rivals.

In hindsight, it was never going to work.

But back when Kaplan entered the legal education market in 2007, the idea of creating the Oxbridge of BPTC providers seemed to be a clever one.

By introducing a rigorous aptitude test in order to gain admission to the course, Kaplan at a stroke achieved the twin aims of attracting the cream of wannabe barristers and taking the moral high ground above its rapacious BPTC rivals.

Not for Kaplan the dubious practice of offering the Bar course to anyone with a 2:2 and a spare £16K, regardless of their ability to actually secure a pupillage (which most BPTC graduates, of course, don't). The new kid on the block's charming campus, bordering Borough market and overlooking the Thames, underlined its elite appeal.

With top students flooding in and positive media coverage abounding, the likes of City Law School, BPP and the University of Law looked on nervously as Kaplan's other courses, the Graduate and Diploma in Law (GDL) and the Legal Practice Course (LPC), basked in the glory of an increasingly impressive brand.

The problem was that high overheads meant that Kaplan wasn't actually making any money from the BPTC, which from 2009-2013 was indeed the best in the business, lovingly tended by founder James Wakefield, a former barrister. To bring in the cash, Kaplan needed to increase student numbers. Cue phase two of the strategy. Wakefield left, moving on to lead the Council of the Inns of Court. And Kaplan went about trying to build on his good work by increasing the scale of its BPTC operation.

Approval was obtained from the Bar Standard Board (BSB) to increase validated course numbers from 90 to 120. Staff members prepared themselves for a busy year. And then something unexpected — but not entirely unpredictable — happened. City Law School, the country's biggest BPTC provider, whose top GDL students Kaplan had been pinching, hit back. A discount was offered for GDL students to continue with City for the BPTC. There were also rumours of other rival course providers offering scholarships to students who otherwise would have chosen Kaplan.

Now, if Kaplan really were Oxbridge, the value for students of having its name on their CVs would have trumped these extras from rival institutions. But, as the law school was to find out, the cachet it had built up would only take it so far.

What Kaplan failed to factor in to its calculations is that top wannabe barristers have extremely glittering CVs, featuring many things that prove how good they are — such as first class degrees, advocacy prizes and, perhaps most importantly, scholarships from the Inns of Court (which are, of course, a form of Bar aptitude test). While these achievement junkies enjoyed bagging another award in the form of a Kaplan BPTC aptitude test pass, it was a luxury.

That meant that when other law schools came calling with discounts, many decided to forgo the Kaplan experience. And so Kaplan began its 2013-14 BPTC significantly below its allocated numbers. Given the timing of last week's announcement of the ditching of the course, it seems that something similar may have happened this year, although rising rent on Kaplan's premises — which it is to leave this summer — played a part.

The moral of the story? That the only way for law schools to gain a lasting advantage in what is a steadily shrinking market is to battle over price. But Kaplan also showed how powerful the (very rapid) building of a brand could be in influencing student's choices. Now, if it had gone budget, but in a cool way, and set up out of, say, a warehouse in Peckham, things might have been different.

Follow @AlexAldridgeUK

Following the recent further spate of Mitchell-related decisions, it has been determined after careful study of the ratio in each ruling that judges are simply making this stuff up as they go along. So the upshot is...

1. You definitely can’t get an extension of time for serving witness evidence absent a good reason. Unless you can.

2. You definitely do need to show a good reason for extending time if you apply in advance. Unless you don’t.

3. The new post-Jackson addition to the Overriding Objective is very important and underpins any breach of an Order. Unless it isn’t and it doesn’t.

Glad to clear that up.

Follow @Wigapedia

A Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) graduate has penned a blog about declining a top intellectual property set's pupillage offer in order to see the world.

Pupillages these days are so rare, and BPTC so graduates so plentiful, that the idea of someone choosing to reject a chambers' offer and do something else entirely is almost unheard of.

But this is exactly what recent BPP Law School BPTC graduate Emily May Alford has done, declining an offer of pupillage from what she describes as a "top London Intellectual Property Chambers" in order to go travelling for 14 months.

Writing on her blog 'Emily's Think Space', Alford, who converted to law from a biology degree at Imperial College London, explains:

"Last year (in 2013), I went through the process of applying for pupillage and was lucky enough to actually be offered one with a top London Intellectual Property Chambers starting in 2014.

"In essence, I was first back-up for my pupillage and thus was only eventually offered it as someone else decided not to take theirs, but to be in the top 2, I believe the principles are the same. Although in the end I decided not to take up my offer of pupillage, I feel very proud to have got that far."

Alford, 27, proceeds to offer a host of tips to wannabe barristers based on her pupillage hunt experience, which saw her bag her pupillage after applying to a mere five chambers. She then returns to consider in more detail her decision to turn her back on the Bar.

"If you really can’t stand legal reasoning and you hate slogging through cases and textbooks, then law may not be the profession for you, as this really is a core part of the job and what you will spend the majority of your time doing.

"I wished I had asked myself these questions as in the end, I worked out that I didn’t really like the law or the English legal system and this was a huge part of my decision not to pursue my pupillage. Ask yourself genuinely, do you really like the law?"

Elsewhere in the post Alford reflects a touch ruefully on the cost of the BPTC, and the fact that students who don't go on to do pupillage can be required to pay back any scholarships they have received.

"Possibly the most significant though is the cost of the BPTC, the essential year you must complete before you can complete pupillage. At BPP, this cost me around £17,000! It’s a lot of money, and again, another year of supporting yourself in all other ways too. And yes, scholarships may help, but it’s all money that at some point you have to pay back. So really only embark on this journey if you have the money or the family support to be able to embark on these few years of training."

Helpfully for Alford, as she notes in the about section of her blog and her Twitter profile, she is a "rock star daughter", with her dad none other than Queen guitarist Brian May. Brian is worth a reported £85 million ($145 million).