Helpful Links

Here you will find some links that have been most helpful to me organised in various sections with a short description if you so care to visit. This is by no means a definitive list, but all the links that I currently have in my favourite. If you have any more to suggest that would be great, I personally hate trawling the net to find these things!

Also most of my stuff is veered towards criminal law, if anyone has any helpful suggestions for civil, negligence, chancery, admin etc all other links are welcome subject to scrutiny!

Barrister Links

Boost your work experience - lists activities you can do to boost your application for pupillage - also very handy if you are looking for things to do to put on your CV.

Barrister - Mini Pupillages - What they are and how to get them.

CV - No idea how or what to write on a CV for a mini pupillage or pupillage useful site gives an example.

Covering letter example - from same people as above giving you an example of a good covering letter.

Time Tabling - No idea of what you are supposed to be doing and you want to go to the bar? Heres a simple helpful guide from 1st year to applying to your BVC.

Voluntering

Admin for Bar Pro Bono Unit - Want to have a bit of admin work on your cv, maybe get to know a few barristers look at cases or something in the mean time? Try this. I tried it though they never got back to me!

Independent custody visiting association - the police hate you apparently much better to look into being an appropriate adult as you get to learn more about PACE, however this could also be an option if you are a fan of liberty and the upholding of values of criminal justice - we all start out as young liberals!

Pro Bono and volunteering - Probably the juiciest stuff here, however remember that most people will already be doing this stuff, so try out the less well known things that not everyone does to make you stand out!

National Centre for Domestic Violence - if you want some real experience in dealing with people who have suffered abuse who may one day be someone you are prosecuting for then check this out.

Witness volunteering - Want to help witnesses round courtrooms and also want to get to know the insides of courts pretty well?

Youth Offender Panel - with growing crime commmitted by younger and younger people you may want to check out your local youth offender panel, and get some experience in your local community

Oh no

Update
As I am now living by myself, I seem to spend a lot of time sleeping with no one to wake me up in the morning, drinking myself into a light trance (intoxication by a bottle of cheapy Gallo is currently my favourite past time.

Also shocking news that Peaches Geldof intends to study at my university. Perhaps following in the same steps as dear old Pete, however I am not really a fan of joint degrees, thinking that you should either be wholly or neither, cant be half committed to something.

I have also started to cook for myself, eating one square meal a day (I get at 3pm) so far chicken on a bed of sliced potatoes, chicken burgers and meatballs all from scratch! Gordon would be so proud of me! Watching the F Word and the entirety of channel 4's programmes is essential when living alone and your friends are either too poor to go out or are no longer living in London!!

New Blogs
Lets have a warm welcome to Uni Looney who also talks about getting drunk, and the effects of university life style (and the inability to have a back bone which you don't have until your 2nd year of uni) , see also discussions of gay baiting -also for the fans of you of scotts law, we know its different but hey the author is a student too look at Scotsman.

Rock n Law - Chris Haywood - possibly the best looking blogger to exist? Did a nice chat with Charon QC can be found here about to start the dreaded BVC.

Things I need to do

1. Read - all my current magazines mostly including dazed and confused, GQ, and the normal drabble. Then start on all my law books that I have never really paid attention too, in particular towards Tort , so when I go for any interview it won't make me look like a complete twat for getting a bare pass (medical illness aswell in the exam)
   
2. Do something with the layout of this blog, hey Andro i'll pay you???
3. Get up at 8am every day and go for a fun! My student belly is getting rather large, and I would like to pull some freshers in my 3rd year, which leads to my final point.
4. Get a first next year - according to my mates on my course, it will be your best four marks within a category that determine your degree grade, and also a huge amount of discretion on how your degree is decided. So what apparently I need is four firsts to get a first next year, and how many subjects do I have four left! I did OK this year in terms of getting 2:1s, without realling involving myself in the material and a lot of late night panicing, if I really got myself involved with the material I'm sure I can do a lot better.

Sorry also to all the bloggers that I have neglected by not commenting, I'll try and catch you up soon!

Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice

I'm obviously talking about that programme that was on our screens a couple of weeks ago.

Criminal Justice or so they called it, apparently written by an ex barrister so some of it is factually correct was probably a helpful if not dramatic insight to the criminal justice system. I'm not a criminal geek however my mini-pupillage was obviously well worth it as I was nodding vigiorously in some places agreeing with applications to excluse evidence under PACE, saying oh this is very real etc.

Also you really felt for a guy who was of good character and had no understanding of how they cirminal justice system works, being thrown in at the vast deep end, being a murder suspect, being told to do this and that by various senior people. Most notably the woman QC, wow what a bitch. As I have never seen a QC in action I have no idea how mean they can be, is this an accurate reflection? Perhaps we should ask Myerson QC. Whatever was quite accurate was how that it could all of a sudden be very serious then the judge would say "lunch?". No no no cannot be sitting past 1 o clock for it is lunch time!

I then found myself in a bit of a shitter, it was quite obvious that on the initial evidence that he did it. So if you were the prosecution and were slamming his face into the puddle of mud which would eventually become his prison cell, would you then later feel guilty if he were found out to be innocent? Personal ethics come in here, would I want to get someone off who is obviously guilty or would I want to prosecute someone who is innocent? You do your job to the best of your ability, however I'm not sure how you can remain detached unless you want to turn into that QC.