Jack Ferro is a barrister at Crown Office Chambers, the largest civil common law set in London. Jack read law at the University of Oxford, where he started to think about entering the profession: “Establishing that I wanted to be a barrister was an evolutionary process. I was involved in public speaking and debating, and thought there’d be a touch of drama and theatre about a career at the Bar. I was also enjoying the academic study of the law, so that was another influence that led me towards the Bar.”

Pupillage for Jack was spent at One Paper Buildings, which merged with Two Crown Office Row to become Crown Office Chambers. He recalls the intensity of that year: “You come in with what feels like zero knowledge and everyone else seems so competent and on top of things. It’s hard to know how to contribute and not embarrass yourself! But then you get into the swing of things and in your second six you are appearing regularly in court. The end of pupillage is again quite stressful because you’re in a vulnerable position and you’re reliant on the assessment of others as to how much potential you’ve shown.”

As part of Jack’s common law practice, the largest area he covers is personal injury, for both claimants and defendants. He explains: “That’s the most abundant source of court work for juniors. I also do product liability, construction, insurance and other general commercial matters. I’m in court on average three times a week, but it varies depending on the time of year and what settles. It’s impossible to plan your week because you’re often not getting your instructions until the last minute, and things collapse or something urgent might come in. As to the work itself, you’ve got to be flexible and think clearly in unexpected situations. You shouldn’t be wedded to a particular way of thinking. It’s better if you can assess the reality of a situation and build a case round that. And if there’s a late development, you may have to return to first principles and re-evaluate your thinking.”

Jack outlines what he’s currently working on: “Today and yesterday I was working on a product liability case related to the construction of machinery that had trapped and seriously injured the claimant. The dispute centres on how to carve up liability among the machine’s manufacturer, the person who introduced it to the UK, the person who bought it, the person who owned it at the time of the accident and the claimant’s employer. That’s the sharp end of the type of work I do! I’ve also earlier today been in a case management conference on a straightforward road traffic accident where liability is admitted.”

Jack’s “evil” career highlight is doing a case on his own against a QC who was “looking down his nose at me”. Thankfully for Jack, by the middle of the second day, his opponent’s evidence had collapsed and the client was thinking of suing the solicitor for negligence! More generally, Jack talks about “thriving on the adrenaline and thrill of being in a court situation where you don’t know what’s going to happen”.

The best aspect of his career, as for many barristers, is autonomy: “I enjoy the freedom of not having a boss. You can devote your time to doing a piece of work thoroughly as you set your own working priorities and, conversely, can take time off when you feel you need it. It’s also nice that as a barrister your papers come to you in semi-preparedness from the solicitor, so you don’t have to do too much tedious leg work. And it appeals to my sense of the academic – you’re looking at complicated problems and having to come up with imaginative answers. And, of course, you’re flexing your advocacy muscles in court as well.” While it can be difficult to plan your life outside the job, Jack thinks that things get better the more senior you become: “Now, if I feel that I’m at saturation point, I can tell the clerks not to take anything more on for me. I’ve been very satisfied with my work-life balance over the past couple of years.”

Common law requires particular skills, says Jack: “The number one requirement is that you’re a good advocate because you’re in court all the time – more than if you were in commercial or chancery practice. If you don’t have the ability to present persuasively, you’re not going to get anywhere. Number two is academic ability; clients come to you for intelligent solutions to difficult problems. So you need to have persuasive, well-thought out arguments as well as advocacy skills.”

Jack extols the virtues of mini-pupillages: “They’re the closest you’re ever going to get to seeing what this work entails and they’re a way to differentiate yourself from others when it comes to applying for pupillage. Chambers are turning away huge numbers of well-qualified people at the paper stage, so you need to at least get to the point where you’re being interviewed and you can sell yourself. If you’ve done a mini-pupillage at that chambers, it might be the thing that sets you apart. It also allows you to talk in an informed way – for example, what appealed about the work and what didn’t. It’s useful experience on which to hang your answers.”

Finally, Jack talks about the nature of a career at the Bar: “It’s inevitably a struggle when you’re trying to get established, especially as you’re not sure how to market yourself and you don’t have a boss to feed you work. A lot comes from growing into the job; nobody takes to the environment immediately, but if you’re well suited to it, it’ll work out. I don’t regret anything about the choices I’ve made.”