Apprentice's De Lacy-Brown: Securing a pupillage was harder than confronting Sir Alan
Nicholas De Lacy-Brown, booted off TV show The Apprentice last week, says Sugar was sweeter.
Aspiring barrister Nicholas De Lacy-Brown, the first contestant to be booted off the new series of The Apprentice last night (26 March), said securing a pupillage was much tougher than landing a place on the hit TV show.
Despite his brush with fame the self-labelled toff is still planning to start his pupillage with Crown Office Chambers in October, he told The Lawyer’s student website Lawyer2B.com that the three rounds of interviews he had with the civil set were much more gruelling than his audition for The Apprentice.
Anyone can blow their own trumpets listen to me now, jokes De Lacy-Brown, adding that bagging a pupillage was the proudest moment of his life.
De Lacy-Brown graduated from Kings College London with a first class honours degree in law. He then completed a Masters in medical law and ethics before embarking on the Bar Vocational Course at BPP Law Schools Holborn branch. But despite his outstanding academic achievements (his only academic failing is that he has one B grade at GCSE) De Lacy-Brown admitted that he struggled to get his first break into the legal profession. I had 18 pupillage interviews and didnt manage to get one job. I found that incredibly frustrating and decided I needed a change of direction. Thats why I decided to apply to The Apprentice, explained De Lacy-Brown.
He added that he was at a loss as to why he kept being rejected though he does believe the bar selection process is still heavily biased towards Oxbridge graduates.
De Lacy-Brown secured his pupillage at Crown Office Chambers shortly after filming on The Apprentice finished. However, he was not allowed to disclose to his future employer his forthcoming television appearance, as he was bound by a confidentiality agreement.
The future barrister, whose other passion is art, said he describes himself as a lawyer first, an artist second and an entrepreneur last. Law is in my blood. My father is a lawyer, and my sister works with him, so I always imagined myself as a barrister. I guess its also because Im a bit of an actor, he enthused.
If I pursued art as a career Id be on my own all the time and that would make me mad. Also, the problem with saying youre an artist is that anyone can be an artist these days. Its been degraded by the frivolous attitudes we now take towards modern art.
De Lacy-Brown said his brief stint on The Apprentice has been life-changing but hopes his fame will not last long. I cant cope with this much activity on my mobile phone, he joked.
He also insisted that his appearance on the BBC One show has not been detrimental to his career as a lawyer. Selling fish and confronting Sir Alan in the boardroom have b***** all to do with being a lawyer. People would be ridiculous to compare the two with each other, claimed De Lacy-Brown.
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Readers' comments (17)
Usefully Employed | 28-Mar-2008 0:49 am
But can they change their minds?
Even if "De Lacy-" Brown is lucky enough after this farce to retain his pupillage, will the members of his set really want to offer him a tenancy?
The man's famous for being a pillock, after all.
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Anonymous | 28-Mar-2008 12:56 pm
De Lacy-Brown
May I point out that Mr De Lacey-brown was ousted in the first round and did not really have to experience the business world too much to suggest it is easier than securing a pupillage. I think everyone knows how hard it is to secure a graduate position in the business sector and then to move on to earn £100k. It requires a lot of hard work, perseverance and intelligence. Even in the Apprentice, which is more of a "pop idol meets business", the winner has to risk leaving his employment and family for months and pass some very innovative hurdles.
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TC Hunter | 28-Mar-2008 3:46 pm
De Lacy Brown
He is qualified to comment on selection processes though, which he is.
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Anonymous | 28-Mar-2008 4:59 pm
De Brown Lace
"The man's famous for being a pillock, after all."
I've met a few pillocks in law, mind. They're usually aspirant middle-class kids who live in Clapham with blonde identikit girlfriends called Nicola.
Rather shocked that The Lawyer would stoop to the level of featuring De Nosy-Brown to up their unique user clicks on their website. But it's good fun kicking a dope when he's down.
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Anonymous | 28-Mar-2008 6:35 pm
De Lacy Brown
How unfortunate that at a time where the bar needs some good publicity a character like this appears. In my experience of people that have failed that many pupillage interviews, it is nothing to do with oxbridge and everything to do with being a rather odious bore with a superiority complex.
So he should fit in rather well at the commercial bar.
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Anonymous | 28-Mar-2008 7:32 pm
Mr Brown
I think he went on the show to plug himself as an artist and personality. In most of these reality shows the public remembers the first one out and the last three. I think Mr De Lacy Brown could be parodying the British class system. He was born after all with the name Brown and added the De Lacy to make himself sound posh. We can all call him a pillock but he has shown that class is still an issue. Even so in Law were there is a bias towards Oxbridge students at the Bar. He is possibly taking the piss out of them…He did confess to being a bit of an actor and it is television and lets face it the BBC needs to pull the punters in somehow!
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Anonymous | 29-Mar-2008 12:06 pm
oh dear
I watched with disgust as this man declared to the 6.4 million people who watched the first episode that he is to be a barrister. I was, quite frankly, embarrassed to say that he is joining my profession. Maybe 200 years ago he would have fitted the stereotype but in this day and age when we are trying so hard to alter public perception in order to prevent the demise of our beloved careers, someone please tell idiots like him where to go. I hope that his set will when it comes to his tenancy application if he doesn't change drastically before then!
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Anonymous | 29-Mar-2008 2:25 pm
Fishmonger
Mr De Lacy-Brown is quite right that his inability to sell fish is no reflection on his calibre as a lawyer. However, his decision to seek a job in such a way be thought a little imprudent by some.
I agree the wider question of whether chambers' selection committees have an Oxbridge bias is important, especially as efforts are being made to improve access to the bar. For the present, let us be thankful that Sir Alan is at hand to redress the iniquity of it all.
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Les Patterson | 31-Mar-2008 11:41 pm
An embarassment to the profession
I'm an antipodean lawyer in the UK, and wasn't sure whether to laugh. cry, throw up or hand in my practising certificate after viewing this pathetic deluded creature on the Apprentice. A barrister who can only talk to educated people - my god, what do they teach at KCL!
Personally, the best barrister I ever briefed had been a logger (i.e. lumberjack) for 20 years, and took up law after a back injury. He certainly knew his Tottenham from his Hotspur and his kilos from his pounds, and the clients LOVED him, and everyone else lived in terror (ok, his clients were more the smacked off their nuts type that would eat our beloved Nicky for breakfast before a bail app).
But, as a state educated common-or-garden solicitor it was lovely to see the snootiest representative of the inbred so-called cream of the profession (the thick and the rich, that is) get the Sugar-sweet treatment.
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Anonymous | 2-Apr-2008 3:26 pm
I'm not sure there is a massive Oxbridge bias anymore
Securing pupillage nowadays - in my opinion - has very little to do with whether or not you have a degree from Oxbridge. Having secured pupillage in London after only my fifth interview I was very fortunate. Neither I nor the other pupil in my chambers has Oxbridge degrees but we fit in. Yes you have to be clever and chambers need to make sure you can do the work but it's also about being the sort of person that chambers can tolerate and get on with. Perhaps that's why - even with Mr Brown's outstanding academic achievements - it took him a few more attempts!
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