Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
UK based law student interested in advocacy and wondering if I should stay on and apply for pupillage at a barristers Chambers here or come back to Singapore to do litigation and arbitration.
As one who hopes to go far and willing to work hard, one question I have is where I can reach the highest levels. How does one make a comparison between QC appointments and SC appointments? Are they different in any way? Which would statistically be harder to get if I’m willing to work hard for decades and push myself as an advocate? As an Asian kid, would I be at a disadvantage if I want to be considered for QC in the UK?
I know I’m dreaming but as a law student doing relatively decently in a very good UK school, one should have ambitions and reach for the stars =]
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You're not from Oxbridge. If you were, you would have said so instead of being mealy mouthed with "very good UK school". Not being from Oxbridge is strike one against you. Do your own research and look up barristers' profiles from various London chambers. Go and see how many are from Oxford, then see how many are from Cambridge.
The chambers not in London aren't worth joining, because if you're not white then don't expect to get much work thrown your way. Hard truths. But if you think you have the balls to represent council housing types in mags, go for it. Pro tip: they're nothing like
HDB flats. Not even close.
Still, and on the off chance you're actually from Oxbridge, go ahead and try for it. Be sure to get first class honours AND a BCL after. Anything less and you can genuinely forget about getting pupillage, to say nothing of tenancy.
Please also do moots - and win them. You have to have something to support "interested in advocacy". A bare statement here, as on your CV, means nothing. And also note the emphasis on winning moots. "Participated in annual uni moot" copypasted for each year of your BA/LLB means nothing at all.
Get all that done and one foot in the door, then you can think of QC. It's hard enough as it is. While you're looking up barristers' profiles, do also see how many of them are Asian. Draw your own conclusions accordingly.
In any event, you probably won't make it because you asked for help here instead of doing your own research. All of this information is easily available from several hours' googling, which you wouldn't think twice about and more if you were genuinely "interested". This is really more for the what-could-have-been types lurking here.