"'Hull, Hell and Halifax!' This denouncement from an elderly, pompous, snuff-taking stripy-trousered QC when I told him I was studying at the University of Hull was enough to put me off a career at the Bar. My turning point came later when I realised that a Desmond from Hull University and becoming a barrister weren't actually incompatible…

"The closest I got to the Bar at university was an ill-fated trip to the Inner Temple where I had tea with someone who I then feared might be characteristic of all barristers everywhere – a Rumpole of the Bailey type figure (without Rumpole's redeeming features), complete with a tin of snuff in his pocket.

"These were the days before CV blind policies, and his dismissal of my university choice was withering – the 'Hull, Hell and Halifax' reference is actually from The Beggar's Litany and lists the three things thieves in the 17th century feared most – hell, for obvious reasons, the Hull jail and the Halifax gibbet – a particularly nasty execution tool. Was my legal career to have a similarly ignominious premature ending?

"After I graduated, I practised as a solicitor for eight years and it was only when I began working closely with barristers on cases that I discovered the majority of them weren't throwbacks to the 17th century locked away in ivory towers, but were actually friendly and relatively normal. I soon realised that where I studied was less important than the commercial approach towards litigation that I had developed, and that my clients respected my advocacy skills a lot more as a result of that.

"When I took silk last year, there was no chance of the clock going full circle. If students come to me for advice about a career at the Bar, I certainly won't judge them by where they studied. However, times have changed, and I hope for their sake they did better than my Desmond…"

PJ Kirby QC is a tenant at Hardwicke Chambers. This article was commissioned for the Turning Points hub, an online career development resource from Legal Week in association with Berwin Leighton Paisner.

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