Kings Inns past students

Lawstudent21

Would one need to be fairly confident going into the barrister at law degree course or does it help students develop themselves during it, meaning mostly in the area of public speaking? just looking for opinions thanks in advance

johnnyskeleton

Lawstudent21 wrote: »

Would one need to be fairly confident going into the barrister at law degree course or does it help students develop themselves during it, meaning mostly in the area of public speaking? just looking for opinions thanks in advance

confidence and public speaking can't be taught, but neither are they entirely inherent talents. They come from experience, but a lot of the top senior counsel talk about how nervous they were when they addressed te court for the first time

RUhavingalaugh

Google Toastmasters and practice makes permanent.

mementote

Lawstudent21 wrote: »

Would one need to be fairly confident going into the barrister at law degree course or does it help students develop themselves during it, meaning mostly in the area of public speaking? just looking for opinions thanks in advance

hi there,

You don't need to be super confident at all, but don't be hiding in the corners either. The course you are (hopefully) about to undertake is not like any other course. The course is about practice and procedure. The course will assume and presume that you know all the law so it won't re-teach the law to you. The course will prepare and teach you how to draft legal documents (criminal and civil), ethics etc and then, crucially how to deliver those documents in an open court. Often times a packed court, and how to project your voice, your presence and be heard among the background noise. It will also help in replying to judge's questions and then getting into legal argument with a colleague.

You will have many many many hours of practice on your feet before your tutors in a class setting and you'll have mock scenarios as well, before your end of year advocacy exams (3 of them). You'll also run a mock criminal and a mock civil trial in the four courts/ccj before real judges so you will have plenty of time.

But while that is fantastic (And the course is), nothing will still prepare you for the first day in a criminal or civil court. But, dont fear. All your colleagues will know the minute they see you that its your first day and even the judges will give you more time. Mind you you'll only get that nice-ness on one occassion but it will help break you in.

The course will develop the skills you have. You might have to work harder at it but that's to be expected too! the kings inns year whilst structured also requires a high degree of self-directed learning. You have 2 x 1hr 45min classes a day (sometimes more for electives) but you easily will need to put 4 hours study on top of that. The more prepared you are the better it will be for you. dont ever forget that, and whilst you're now doing entrance exams and currently think the world can not be any more cruel to you, the exit exams (14 of them, spread over 3 months approx) are MUCH worse. But they are a bit more fun

Wish you every best wish in the coming year. Do not panic or stress or worry at all about the public speaking side, it will come in time, but be prepared to work on it a fair bit. Enjoy the year, make the very most of it!

and in a years time, we'll see you gowned and tabbed on your feet

Best of luck, and don't hesitate to message if you want to clarify anything at all!

NoQuarter

Great post mementote, many thanks for taking the time to write that.

Lawstudent21

Great reply! Much appreciated!