Why becoming a successful barrister requires parents who can support you indefinitely and who have lots of connections to get you work.

To qualify as a barrister you must;
– Get your undergrad (3-5 years (LLB))
– pass your Kings Inns exams (1 year)
– complete Kings Inn BL Degree in Dublin
– although now technically qualified as a barrister your must “pupil” for a year under a Dublin based experienced barrister for at least one year UNPAID.

Now you’ve qualified you need to get work, and without strong connections this involve fighting for scraps with other junior barristers.

If you do get good private work you will not get paid for the work until possibly years later.

Or join the criminal legal aid scheme and this happens!

by Accomplished-Ad-6639

12 comments

  3. Excited to undertake the entrance exams next summer…

  4. same in the North. I bailed out and did jobs with less prestige. Bought a house while friends from college were hanging up their wigs and gowns in their childhood bedrooms because they couldn’t afford rent. It’s not for the likes of us.

  5. I wondered why they all seem like cunts. This explains a lot.

  6. This post is talking exclusively about being a criminal barrister. That’s probably about 20% of barristers in Ireland. Most barristers don’t do crime and don’t do work for the legal aid board.

    Also, this is a barrister who was sacked. If his client hadn’t decided to change legal teams at the last minute then the barrister would have received a brief fee at the hearing which would be, on current legal aid numbers, €2,135 for the first day of hearing and a daily fee of €1,000 for each subsequent day of hearing.

  7. It’s a shitty situation. A lot of people think being a barrister is all michelin star lunch breaks and jags. The legal aid side of things is a total shit show. It seems to be in someones interest to keep things as they are, but I’m just not sure who that is.

  8. I wonder what % of barristers are from working class backgrounds?

  9. There’s a lot of brain drain for criminal barristers. Hardly any of them stick it out.

  10. It’s a very tough life at the Bar. I think out of all my friends that went down that career path, most had left the Bar within 5 years and converted / went in-house. It was not unusual to make €50 a week at the Bar and having to take lecturing jobs on the side.

    I went the corporate solicitor route, that’s a tough road to follow but at least you are getting paid for the work you do. That might change for barristers with upcoming legal partnerships between solicitors and barristers, I think Simmons & Simmons got approved as the first one but I have not been keeping up to date with that. That’s probably a good development, legal careers should not be closed off to solely the wealthy.

  11. Apparently all barristers are masochists if they continue doing it to themselves. If it’s so bad, why are you still in this profession?

  12. No different to any other self employed worker. Guarantee lots of electricians, plumbers, tradesmen don’t get paid for a lot of the work they do.

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