WOMEN AT THE BAR

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10311, 21 January 1927, Page 3

WOMEN AT THE BAR

WAITING ’FOR BRIEFS AND FAME. A ter less, than four years since ■r admission to the profession it is idle to attempt successful prognostication as to Avomen’s success at the bar (says the Morning Post). The calling of a barrister is as personal a thing as that of an artist, and the i-Vster aa’lio reaches the highest •ung of the ladder must rely chiefly cn his or her oavh ability. Like men, Avomen barristers must -• prepared to face years of Availing

• briefs, a period of difficulty Avhicli is increased in the case of Avomen by the strong prejudice still obtaining against them as pleaders. The promt, too, is a bad time for the Bar as a Avhole. The boom in litigation which followed the A\’ar has subsided and continuous industrial trouble leaves the commercial Avorld A-cry little money for laiv suits. Provided, hoAvever, that a Avoman 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 reAvards to ability and “industry.

Qualifying for the Bar in England, in the case of a normally well-edu-catccl 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 ' years, and this is occupied by passing examinations and eating dinners. The iirst thing to be done is to join an Inn of Court, the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln’s Inn or Grey’s Jnn. The fee payable on joining an Inn 2s about £oo, and the new member becomes at once .entitled to dine in* the ball, to use the library and common room, and to attend lectures, and, until call, she is known as a student. Eating dinners means dining in the hall three or six nights a term lor twelve terms, there being four terms in the legal year. The examination is dir'Jed into two parts, the proltiiiTmrv mul the bi.nl, each of which con.si;;s of four perns. 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 general qualifying examination, but the exemption from this is easily obtained by matriculation or other similar qualification. After eating her dinners and passing her examinations the student presents herself for call by her Inn .For this she must he proposed by a bencher and pay about £IOO for stamps and fees. It is usual lor a young barrister to read as a pupil in some busy junior barrister’s chambers, the fee for this being 100 guineas for twelremonths. In this way she acquires a knowledge of the practice of the courts, learns how to deal with papers and to interview clients, and generally, how to put her learning into practice. After this she looks about for a room in good chambers, joins a circuit if she is doing criminal or common law, and puts up her name, and—waits for briefs and fame.