Name: Peggy Etiebet
Female
Barrister
Housing General Common Law

My name is Peggy Etiebet.  I am 30 years old and a tenant at 2-3 Gray’s Inn Square and I was called to the Bar in 2001, aged 25.

Before I came to the Bar I got a 2:1 from Cambridge in Social and Political Science, undertook long-term regular pro bono work at two different charities related to the area of law I espoused an interest in, pursued slightly obscure hobbies – water-polo and triathlon – and volunteered abroad. 

I did my first 12 months pupillage at 39 Essex Street and 10 further months at 2-3 Gray’s Inn Square before they deigned to offer me a tenancy.

The buzzwords for my practice would be public and human rights law: 40% of it is social welfare law (homelessness, social services and landlord and tenant).  The rest is licensing, immigration, general common law, and regulatory crime.  

In the last week I have represented a local authority in a planning judicial review at the High Court, represented an applicant in a one-day planning inquiry in Windsor, obtained an interim ASBO against three boys in Southampton, attended a directions hearing on a housing disrepair claim in Bow County Court and appealed against a refusal of asylum in Feltham.  I have also drafted advice on leasehold agreements, a contract dispute and a skeleton argument in a homelessness appeal. 

My tips for those starting out are:

Tip 1: Do not be put off coming to the Bar by thinking that you are a bit older than the norm.  Chambers are more likely to recruit candidates who have had time to develop client care skills and bolster their CV.

Tip 2: Do be aware of the high quality of applicants out there.  Strong academic results are necessary – an Oxbridge degree is not.  Something that evidences an interest in an area of law is necessary – your assertion to be interested in human rights will not be credible if not accompanied by sustained volunteer work at a relevant charity/NGO.  Something that makes you interesting is useful - the panel will have interviewed 20 others as clever and accomplished as you and may forget you but for the fact that you climbed Everest in a banana suit.

Tip 3: Do not despair if at first you do not succeed.  Pupillage and tenancy committees are sometimes unaccountably blind to your strengths.  If one set does not want you, it is likely that another chambers will.

Tip 4: Do believe that the job will be as brilliant as you expect.  I have been practising for three and a half years and I have already been in the Court of Appeal a number of times, the Administrative Court regularly and advised clients on matters of general policy and new legislation on which there is no case law.

Tip 5: Pupillage and the early years at the Bar can be a difficult time.  Do be aware of all the avenues of support and use them.  People would not have volunteered as mentors if they were not ready to help.  It is better that it is your mentor that sees you struggling than the tenancy committee, your clients or the judge.

Tip 6: Do be prepared to work long hours and on weekends, to travel and to have a varied caseload.

I did not have a mentor. I was lucky enough to get on well with a number of my pupil masters and did not miss it. 

Is it worth it?  Yes.  The hours are long, the work is hard, and your social life will suffer.  As counsel I am the end of the line.  People rely on me to get it right, to change their lives, to make them money.  The responsibility is great and can be burdensome. But I still love doing it, the challenge, the variety, the lack of a boss (except the clerks), the responsibility, so much so that I am writing this at 9.30 on a Wednesday night when I should be at water polo practice, to assist you to enter the profession. 

If I could start my career all over again what would I do different?  Nothing.