Pursuing a career as a barrister is a route not to be taken lightly. The profession is extremely charming, however the road to becoming a successful barrister is extremely competitive and challenging. Only the highest caliber graduates make it to the profession or stand a chance to success. Note that advocacy is a key element of being a barrister; therefore you must possess extra ordinary speaking talent and must have the ability to express yourself in simple clear words and aptly. It is your job to convince jury or judge as the case may be depending on which jurisdiction you intend to practice. You must be persuasive and strong willed as the slightest appearance of nerves or a fault in your dialogue could lose the case and the freedom of your client, particularly in a criminal case. Although it may be true that justice demands that it ought not to be dependent on performance of a lawyer and the facts and evidence must be important in determining the outcome of the case, however, the system of law that we have in England or Pakistan or other common law jurisdictions, role of a lawyer is imperative. A barrister, who is eloquent and well prepared and puts the case of his client as smartly as he can, often wins. This may be a shortcoming of the system that often injustice can prevail when a superior lawyer is representing a culprit, but that unfortunately is how the system works.
For a barrister, a large part of his job will involve public speaking. So as a barrister you must possess excellent interpersonal skills. You must also be able to improvise, as the twists and turns of the court will always bring up subjects that you may not have prepared for. An ability to deal with stress is vital as late nights are common and the pressure of court appearances high.
Moreover, as most barristers operate independently, you must be prepared to endure the possibility of financial hardship at the start of your career, with delayed earnings a common occurrence. You must also have a very competitive nature as places are few and far between. Only around a third of students undergoing the vocational stage of training (BPTC) will get a pupillage (a kind of legal apprenticeship) and, even after that, there are fewer tenancies in chambers than there are people on pupillages.
To become a barrister in Pakistan, you must complete you’re O and A Levels after which you must pursue your undergraduate degree in either London University affiliated Pakistan colleges or go abroad and do you undergraduate. Depends on the type of budget you have for your education. It is cheaper to study in Pakistan as compared to UK.
After completing your undergraduate education in Pakistan or aboroad,, you must then apply to one of the few colleges that do a Bar Vocational Training Course. Once you sign up for this course, you are required to undertake Bar Membership from one of the four Inns. The most notable or famous Inn for Pakistani students is The Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inn because of Mohammad Ali Jinnah who was its member and a barrister.
