When You Need an Information

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How to Become a Barrister

So, you want to become a barrister? Well, you have a long and probably arduous journey ahead of you, but the rewards – both personal and financial – will be worth the hard work. Law is a very highly paid profession, but this means it is just as highly sought after, meaning the competition will be great.

If you want to become a barrister yourself, the main way to achieve your aim involves three steps: the academic, the vocational and the pupillage.

The Academic Stage

The first step on the road to being a qualified barrister is getting a degree – either a Qualifying Law Degree or a degree in any other subject, as long as you do a conversion course (Graduate Diploma in Law) afterwards.

You will need, at the very least, a 2:2 in your chosen degree; third class Honours will not be accepted. The degree is intended to prepare you for the vocational stage, and you will not be able to progress to that until you’ve studied the Foundations of Legal Knowledge: Public Law, EU Law, Criminal Law, Property Law, Obligations and the Law of Trusts. If you’re already put off, I’d suggest a change of career – maybe you need some employment advice!

The Vocational Stage

Next, you must undertake the BPTC – the Bar Professional Training Course. This usually takes the form of a single year, full time course, but you can instead choose to do it part time, which will take twice as long. The part time course is good for work experience, however. It is a mostly practical course, involving role playing and advocacy, and also teaching you how to write up legal documents.

When it comes to assessing your progress, each institution has its own methods, but you will typically have to take multiple choice tests to determine how knowledgeable you are about key areas. Your practical skills will, of course, be demonstrated practically – advocacy via recorded examinations and written papers to prove your competence in writing. Once you’ve passed, you may move on to your pupillage.

The Pupillage

Pupillage takes one further year, and is incredibly competitive: last year, almost 3000 people applied for it. It normally takes place within a barristers’ chambers, where you will receive practical experience under the supervision and guidance of a suitably experienced barrister. During the first six months, you will typically spend most of your time shadowing, researching and observing your supervisor in court. After these six, you will be eligible to be Called to the Bar.

Once you’re Called – congratulations! This is the equivalent of a graduation ceremony, and you have now earned the right to the title of barrister! However, before you can practise, you’ve got to complete the final six months.

During these months you are allowed to take on work of your own, still with a supervisor for a helping hand. Once that’s done, you are officially a practising barrister, so you deserve a pat on the back! Now all you have to do is obtain tenancy within a barristers’ chambers…

About this post:

This is a guest post by Jamie Knop for Employment Advice Now in Leeds.

A Teacher on Trial

This video of a professor hitting his student that has gone viral for days now has prompted me to do a little introspection  about the way I am as a teacher. I am too far from perfection, I am sure of that and there were a lot of times that I lost temper over my students' misbehavior. Have I crossed the line when it happened?  

Being a teacher isn't an easy job and not everybody realizes that. Having to manage a classroom of 50 to 60 heads with different attitudes is where the most challenging part lies. There are times that students can really go beyond the limit of the teacher's patience but does that give the teacher the right to hit his students to release his fuming anger just as how this supposed "professor" did to his female student?

I am not on to pass any judgement to this teacher as my knowledge of how this unbecoming scene started but my stand point is this: A teacher has to have a strong control over his emotions. He shouldn't let his temper rule over himself  because in the end, everything will bounce back to him. At the end of the spectacle, the teacher always ends up to the scrutiny of the public. It will then just round up to two categories: a good teacher and a bad teacher. 

How am I as teacher? It's not for me to judge. I know I am not a very good teacher. All that I am hoping though is that nobody from among those I have taught will come up to me one day and tell me that I am the "worst" teacher he/she ever had. 

  

An Increase in Parent and Student Awareness on College Costs is the Key to Avoid Massive Student Loan Debts

The increasing cost of college education in the US is commonly the top reason cited as a hindrance to teenagers who want to graduate with a degree. Fund sources like student loan are becoming not a good option in today’s rough economic climate apparently because the collected student debt has already reached over a trillion dollars. According to Student Loan Ranger, a lack of transparency may harm the borrowers especially those who experience difficulty comparing and contrasting colleges/universities to assess their value and the tendency to continue tuition hike. Greater transparency among these colleges can increase the competitive pressure between each other, making them focus on the outcomes of increasing college costs to students. Colleges basically try to either cut or freeze tuition fees in order to provide competitive prices to parents and students.

Between 2008 and 2010, the average college cost at a state university increased by 15 percent. This dramatic growth was driven by budget cuts made by the government for higher education. Hence, it also increased tuition fees by 40 percent in state universities found at Arizona, California and Georgia. The Penn State U is the holder of the highest in-state tuition fee for state universities at $15,250 in 2011. This tuition does not include expenses for board and lodging, room and other things that amounted to a total of $19,816, which is considered the fourth highest net price in the country of the same year. This only signals warning to students to become smart consumers and to the state government, this calls for making college education a top priority in their budgets. This holds true especially when the country needs more graduates at this very moment in order to remain competitive and strong in the global economy. However, unfortunately, the college costs keep on rising at a time when incomes are greatly affected by the economic crisis. So, it will not be a surprise if middle class families wouldn't be able to afford higher education. Most students who have studied in a state university spent about half a hundred thousand dollars for four years, while the loans reached up to $25,000. The bad news is most students do not realize the amount of debt they are responsible with until the time comes to pay for it. This goes to show that students don’t know the situation they are really getting into during college years.

On that basis, it is advisable for parents and students to remain updated about the latest College Affordability and Transparency list. These lists can be helpful when tracking fees and tuition of both public and private colleges. The transparency program is one of the Education Department’s initiatives to raise awareness among parents and students about the costs of higher education every year. For more affordable options, community colleges would be perfect. In fact, the average net price of a typical community college was $8,085 in 2010. Of course, keeping college costs affordable is everyone’s responsibility by doing one’s own part as a citizen of this country. 

The Author:

Nicole McGrey is a teacher at Edinburg High School for 5 years and currently taking PHd at University of Illinois. Her writing includes few notes about Eric Schiffer. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleMcGrey 

The Year that Was - 2012

Lorenzo's Time. With the hard work I did in blogging
for 2012, I rewarded myself with this. 

It's time to move on to the next stage of our lives as the new year begins but I won't let the days go further without having to bid goodbye to the year 2012 which has been so kind and has brought me tremendous memories to cherish and blessings to count. 

It has been such a great year. I have moved to a new work place just as I have prayed for. Not only it opened bigger earning opportunities for myself, it also paved way for professional challenges and growth being a Foreign Language teacher to English Program students. 

My blogging career has done me much favor in 2012. While it provided me with an avenue for my thoughts and insights, it also had given me the opportunity to work with so many wonderful people in the "blogosphere" who became channel of blessings thus my earnings for the year 2012 was double of that which I earned in 2011. 

Some favorable breaks for investments also opened up that year thus creating opportunities to save up for the future. The small steps toward that goal had already been taken and so what's left now is to continue what has been started. The walk maybe too slow for now but I'm hoping it will be in a continuous pace. 

I'd like to believe that I have established great relationships last year. I have met new friends, have created new bond of friendships, found a special relationship and in just a year I have become a godfather to three beautiful baby girls - MJ, Louresse and Leanne. How wonderful! 

As in the previous years, it has never been that smooth, there were countless ups and downs but those low points were the defining moments of how great that year 2012 for me and my family back home. 

I thank you my FRIENDS... for being a part of my fruitful year. Thank you for the color you added to it. Without you, it would have not been as fruitful as it was.    

Ultimately, I thank the Lord Almighty for all the answered prayers and for HIS faithfulness and HIS greatness in my life.