Meet the barristers

Readers' comments (10)

• Anonymous | 18-Nov-2008 1:14 pm

  Bling
  
  I particularly liked the clip where one of the older characters didn't know what bling is - it just goes to show how out of touch the bar is with the rest of society...hopefully this series will teach us mere mortals a thing or two about the legal profession as well as educate the legal profession on the 'real world'

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• Abe | 18-Nov-2008 1:29 pm

  Out of touch
  
  No it doesn't - 'bling' is just a (now outdated) chavvy hip-hop concept popular with poor urban youth. Most people outside London/the 16-20 age group have no familarity with it, and those that still retain some values other than just wanting to be rich think it's a pretty repelant notion.

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• Anonymous | 18-Nov-2008 5:01 pm

  Bling.
  
  Don't be daft. Professionals should be concentrating on the job, not following the fashion of teenagers.

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• Anonymous | 18-Nov-2008 5:04 pm

  Meet the barristers
  
  More worrying is the advantage obtained gaining interview and during interview by informing your prosepctive set that a film crew will be attending.

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• Anonymous | 18-Nov-2008 5:30 pm

  Meet the Fockers
  
  Well, whatever the Bar Council are trying to prove, we all know that the bar is full of white, middle-class, Oxbridge apron huggers.
  
  What help are they giving the REAL people doing their BVC who aren't from redbrick universities???!!!

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• Jimbo Jones | 19-Nov-2008 9:26 am

  No one cares what a bling is
  
  I think it worrying that whether the Bar is connected to ordinary society or not is being judged on how many chav words barristers know.
  
  I dare say most politicians, doctors and in fact, most educated professions don't know what 'bling' is. Just like most rappers don't know what 'thrift' is. I think the bar is mixed, although not enough, and being mixed doesn't mean including talentless people from every crap university in the country!

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• JC | 21-Nov-2008 5:15 pm

  Opportunities
  
  The problem is not about knowing what new words or phrases mean but is it about having empathy with all those involved in the legal system, especially criminal; most crime (as defined by this society) is conducted by working class people on working class people, and if your only experience of this section of the population is via media stereotypes, then it is very difficult to have the required empathy.
  
  It is not about giving Pupillage to "talentless people from every crap university" just because they are working class, but there are plenty of idiots being given opportunities simply because they went to the right school and have the right connections. Common sense, life experience, instinct etc cannot be taught; how to pass exams can be.

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• Anonymous | 21-Nov-2008 11:11 pm

  Hmmm...
  
  Here is a thought, the money paid for this documentary may have funded several pupillages at chambers for some of the students waiting for one!
  
  As always the Bar is more concerned about its image rather then sorting out a very big problem, and in the process encouraging even more students to join the debt brigade.
  
  Also it would have been helpful to see how chambers assess each application that comes their way and how people are chosen for interview. Then again what would I know, i'm just a sucker for rejection letters and debt, or a BVC student to those in the real world ...

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• James Van Thalin | 27-Nov-2008 1:22 am

  Get your own pupillage
  
  This documentary was funded by the BBC and the OU. Neither are responsible for the Bar or for pupils, or, shock horror, failed pupils-to-be.
  
  Chambers fund pupillages for the best candidates. Asking for the public to do so is akin to asking the public to pay for political parties they don't believe in. Both cases serve the interests of the undeserving.

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• Birmingham Barry | 29-Nov-2008 8:32 pm

  Meet the barristers
  
  What a load of complete rubbish is being written about the bling episode. Anybody with an ounce of intelligence would realise that it was included because it was a vaguely comic moment in the middle of a very serious job where one wrong question can result in a man serving a sentence of 10 years imprisonment or a guilty rapist being acquitted.
  
  I know the QC in question and he is a brilliant advocate - why else would he be a QC? Just because he did not know the meaning of bling does not mean he is out of touch with society. Every day of his professional life he is in contact with rapists, murderers, conmen, drug dealers etc etc.
  
  Simply because he is well-educated, works hard, was born white and middle class does not mean that he is out of touch with society because he chooses to go home and live a life that is totally different from the life of his clients.
  
  Unless you have experienced life at the Bar, you are in no position to comment about members of the profession. I do have that experience and most of my colleagues are decent people who do a difficult job well. And it is changing! Look on the websites of provincial chambers and you will see what I mean.
  
  Just because you wear a suit in a photograph and speak English correctly does not mean that you come from a middle/upper class background.

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