Alex Aldridge recounts the rigorous social schedule of a BVC student on the path to being called to the Bar

1st qualifying session

My choice of Inn was made on a whim – basically, I joined Middle Temple because I quite liked the sound of the name. I had no idea it was founded by knights, or that the hall was the location of the first-ever performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. I found this out during the introductory speeches that comprised my first 'qualifying session'. As well as passing the Bar Vocational Course (BVC), students are required to attend 12 qualifying sessions (mostly formal dinners) in order to be called to the Bar.

2nd qualifying session

Unluckily, I was the only one in my BVC small group at Middle Temple, so I persuaded my reluctant girlfriend to come along to my first dinner. All students have to put on gowns before, Ryanair-style, taking any seat they can grab on one of the very long dining tables in the main hall. Next to me was a policeman called Rod doing the BVC part-time and opposite me a barrister in his late 20s called Charles. Like me, neither appeared to have any Middle Temple contacts and both were keen to chat. The food was very nice and by the time the traditional barristers' port arrived I'd started to seriously warm to the whole dining thing, although I was less enthusiastic about Charles.

3rd qualifying session

According to my ticket it was 'All Inn Dining', which didn't mean much to me until the person opposite addressed the old guy next to me, who I'd assumed was a mature student, as 'judge'. Quickly I realised that 'All Inn Dining' means the senior members of the Inn (the benchers) sit among the students and barristers, rather than on the normal high table at the front of the hall. Keen to ingratiate, I introduced myself to the judge, only to be met with a strangely curt nod, my unshaken hand left dangling conspicuously in the air. I only found out later about the strange old tradition among barristers never to shake each other's hands. So I decided to avoid the judge and chat to the guy next to me who, confusingly, initiated a handshake on our introduction, despite his full barrister status. His name was Dave, he was in his late 30s, specialised in tax law and seemed to have come along to dinner in order to cop off with impressionable female BVC students. But as we chatted to the two female BVC students sitting in front of us, it became clear, as he reeled off tax anecdote after tax anecdote, that Dave's pulling technique was poor.

4th qualifying session

Along with the dinners, there are a few lectures that you can attend which count as qualifying sessions. On the up side, they are cheaper than the dinners. On the down side, they tend to be dull. The sensible option seemed to be to miss it, but I needed the qualifying session and didn't want to waste the £10 ticket. So I devised a plan to hand in my ticket, thus bagging the qualifying session point, then escape without attending the lecture by pretending to take an urgent phonecall. And it worked!

5th & 6th qualifying sessions

I was getting the hang of these dinners now and five and six were pretty standard stuff – arrived, sat with friendly strangers, interrupted my regular diet of frozen pizza to eat good food, drink decent wine and chat about pupillages.

7th qualifying session

So far I'd been careful not to drink excessive amounts while dining, but at dinner seven I got drunk after fatefully opting to sit among a group of vegetarian non-drinkers. The normal procedure is that every four diners share a bottle of wine – meaning that I got a bottle of wine to myself.

8th qualifying session

Predictably, my mum was desperate to share in the Middle Temple dining experience, so I bought a couple of tickets. Walking the half-hour down to the Temple from King's Cross station, where I picked up my mum, I gave her a stern briefing on what not to do. Everything went pretty smoothly until a barrister started to chat her up and she decided to do one of the things she'd expressly agreed not to: try to get me a pupillage. No surprises when having emailed my CV to this guy the next day as instructed, I got an embarrassed reply that I'd have to go through the standard application procedure.

9th & 10th qualifying sessions

These came at a stage where I was feeling pretty disillusioned with the BVC. The early excitement of advocacy sessions had been replaced with frustration with my tutors for constantly pulling me up for not following various mystifying evidential rules, while I had a particularly tedious and surprisingly difficult legal research assessment on European competition law hanging over me. At the same time, money was tight and preventing me going out with friends on the career ladder who were now accustomed to not scrimping over the price of a pint. So it wasn't with much enthusiasm that I trudged down Chancery Lane from the Inns of Court School of Law to the Temple. As usual, I bumped into a few people I vaguely knew from the course/dinners and as we chatted and ate it became apparent that some of them were also struggling a bit. It was really very helpful to find this out.

11th qualifying session

Another lecture and I'm sorry, Mr Guy Mansfield QC, but another quick hand-in of ticket and crafty escape.

12th qualifying session

Call day: I'd made it! I got my BVC results through and to my relief I had no re-sits. So all that remained was to be called to the Bar (and eat the buffet after the ceremony, which technically counts as the qualifying session). Eventually my name was read out in the graduation-style ceremony and I appeared from the sea of wigs to be 'called to the Utter Bar' by the Master Treasurer. And I'm a convert. Although it's undeniable that the BVC providers are now the main players, my Middle Temple dinners certainly enriched my BVC experience. And I'd definitely rather eat a dinner than sit an exam.

The article appears in the Spring 2007 edition of the Legal Week Student supplement. Click here for a full list of articles. To order a hard copy email [email protected] or ring 020 7004 7422
Legal Week Student Spring 2007