University: King’s College London 
Degree: Politics, Philosophy and Law
Year of call: 2024
Position: Barrister

What made the Bar the right career choice for you, rather than other legal routes?

What attracted me to the Bar was the idea of being an advocate – making arguments in a public forum, whether orally or in writing. The focus on advocacy represents the biggest day-to-day difference between the work of barristers and solicitors.

A second draw was an intellectual interest in the law. Because barristers specialise in litigation and contentious matters, our work is often on tricky ‘edge cases’ that offer a real intellectual challenge.

A third advantage of the Bar was the independence and the sense of authorship involved – the idea that your work goes out under your own name. It’s true that being solely responsible for your work can be stressful, but it’s also what makes the job exciting and ultimately rewarding.

How did you narrow down which chambers to apply to and what mattered most in that decision?

The most important decision is what practice area you want to specialise in. I applied for pupillages in tax law (as well as at commercial, chancery and hybrid sets). Thinking about the modules you were most interested in during your law degree or conversion course is a good starting point, but I’d encourage applicants to use mini-pupillages, moots and other extracurricular exercises like problem question competitions to try out areas that may be unfamiliar. It was a combination of those things – and a growing awareness of what the practice area involves – that helped me to realise that tax was for me.

What do you think ultimately made you a strong pupillage candidate?

Practice. The skills you use in completing the pupillage application form will often be the same as the ones you use to apply for mini-pupillages. Similarly, moots, scholarship interviews at the Inns and discussions during mini-pupillages are good preparation for pupillage interviews. Problem questions are a particularly important part of our application process, so practising your technique on those in whatever context you can (including academic study, but we also run an annual problem question competition) is the best preparation of all.

What was the best way to learn effectively as a pupil?

One advantage of our pupillage process is that we’re able to place pupils with an unusually high number of supervisors – up to 10 or 11, ranging from senior juniors to the most experienced silks in chambers. Each supervisor provides a different template for how the job can be done, which I felt enabled me to experiment with different ways of thinking and presenting my work: by the end of pupillage, you begin to get a sense of which techniques, turns of phrase and ways of getting into a problem embody the kind of barrister you want to be.

How did you balance your time personally and professionally as a pupil?

My supervisors and chambers as a whole were excellent about protecting my time during pupillage. We were under firm instructions not to work evenings or weekends (at least until the final stretch, when it can be useful to have the extra time). Chambers were also very accommodating when I suffered a bereavement during pupillage. There’s a culture of trying to ensure that pupils (and tenants) are able to do their best work, and an acknowledgment that this means providing time for rest and a life outside of work.

Please outline your practice area and walk us through what a recent working day looked like for you.

Tax is among the most ‘law-heavy’ areas of practice, in the sense that nearly all of the litigation and advice in which tax barristers are involved turns on contentious questions of law (rather than the application of settled law to disputed facts). It’s never about numbers or maths; every question of tax law depends, in one way or another, on the meaning of a word or phrase in its context, which always includes what the legislation is trying to achieve.

Tax is also among the most diverse practice areas in terms of the kinds of questions that can arise. In addition to the ‘pure’ questions of statutory interpretation, cases will often turn on questions taken from other areas of the law. Contract, trusts, land, company and public law all regularly feature, and tax is one of a very small number of practice areas where EU law remains highly relevant. The importance of tax treaties also means that international law is regularly a live issue.

Recently, in the space of one day in chambers, I prepared a statement of case for an appeal which turns on whether the First-tier Tribunal can hear arguments about public law and equitable remedies, researched an opinion on how to ensure a trust for the benefit of a disabled person could secure an applicable tax relief, and drafted a notice of appeal to the Supreme Court of Gibraltar concerning a tax relief introduced as part of a covid-era stimulus package.

What’s one thing about your chambers that has had a real impact on your development so far?

We have chambers coffee every day at eleven, which is a useful opportunity to ask colleagues for advice or sense-check an initial view. Maybe less obviously, listening to others’ questions – even if you have no prior experience of the bit of legislation or case law under discussion – is a great way to learn the tools of the trade and to move the ‘unknown unknowns’ into the light.

What advice would you give to someone deciding whether the Bar is right for them?

There really is no single pathway, so don’t be put off by a perception that there’s a ‘type’. The vast majority of sets and interviewers are trying to get the best out of you, and our application process reflects that. CV marks are available for excellence in any area, and the mark scheme for our paper sift gives particular weight to your performance on the problem question, which is designed to be equally accessible to people with all different levels of legal experience.

What matters most by far is your willingness and ability to consider a difficult legal problem and talk someone through your thinking. That’s the essence of an application or an interview, but also of the job itself – if it sounds like it suits you, then the Bar is probably a good fit.

How would you describe the culture at your chambers, and how does that show up in day‑to‑day working life?

Chambers is supportive of all its members’ development and success. The most concrete manifestation of that support is the ‘panel’ system; for the first few years of tenancy, a panel of five members of chambers will make time to review any piece of unled advisory work before it goes out. Given tax law’s complexity and the pressure to deliver high-quality advice, this is an indispensable opportunity to continue to learn after pupillage, to build confidence and build a practice.

What diversity and inclusion initiatives is your chambers involved with?

Mini-pupillages are available through Bridging the Bar as well as through the mainstream application process outlined on our website. We also participate in the 10,000 Black Interns programme and are signatories to the Chancery Bar Association’s Charter for Fairness. Chambers is committed to making reasonable adjustments and to providing full consideration of special circumstances at every stage, including for mini-pupils and pupillage applicants.

What’s the biggest opportunity you’ve been given since being called to the Bar?

The chance to be involved in such a wide range of work – our clerks’ room is excellent and our silks and senior juniors are enthusiastic about bringing junior members of chambers into cases, meaning there’s a good mix of led and unled work. Recent work with leaders includes what’s set to be the UK’s first cryptocurrency-related tax appeal and, separately, advising a high-profile client on when he first became UK resident. At the same time, I’m acting unled for an award-winning artisan cheesemaker on whether ‘farming’ includes the activity of making cheese out of your own sheep’s milk.

What’s your desert island disc?

Bob Dylan’s ‘Tryin’ to Get to Heaven’ – the best version is the ‘Live in London’ recording from 2000.