"Written Exercise"

Are there any guesses as to what a "written exercise" at an interview may entail?

Portal down?

Anyone else noticed pupillage portal down?


I'm getting the message to the left when I go to www.pupillage.com

Redirect Loop

Redirection limit for this URL exceeded. Unable to load the requested page. This may be caused by cookies that are blocked.

The browser has stopped trying to retrieve the requested item. The site is

redirecting the request in a way that will never complete.

* Have you disabled or blocked cookies required by this site?

* NOTE: If accepting the site's cookies does not resolve the problem, it is probably a server configuration issue and not your computer.

Sound Advice

I received a message from my boss last night wishing me luck for today, with the following message:

"...

Same advice as to witnesses:

Listen carefully to the questions and be honest with them!

..."

I thought it was a lovely analogy (especially as much of my job is chatting/preparing the witnesses before they give evidence).

Now I just need to make sure I come up to proof :)

On Mourning Celebrities

Yes, he was talented. Yes, he broke new ground. Yes, it's sad when anyone dies.

But really, unless you are a family or friend, why on earth are you in floods of tears/joining a support group/setting up a shrine?

"Oh no, that's a shame. I wonder if anyone will make a joke about [insert here]" would seem a far more usual approach.

JK Rowling dying before Book 7 came out would have been upsetting. Obviously, it would be sad that she had died (again, because she is a person and it's always sad when a person dies) but it would be annoying because we would never have known the end of the series.

I wonder if I am a bad human being?

Double fingers crossed

More good news today!

Let's hope that one will be good practice for the other. I'm having absurdly unrealistic fantasies about possible outcomes.

Any spare digits, please cross.

Poptarts and debating

Debating tip #56: Use your POPTART.

Ethics Questions

I'm busy cramming for the upcoming interview (having forgotten that areas such as 'contract' even existed) and so am sorting the legal knowledge for myself, have got my supervisor at work to run through with 'fluff HR questions' with me (eg: dinner party, biggest weakness, why the bar) but would like your collective opinions on two ethics questions. I don't think there is necessarily any 'right' answer, I would just like to know your thoughts.

1. You are prosecuting in the crown court. One of the jurors is wearing a 'I (heart) the BNP - whites rule' t-shirt (or similar). What do you do in the following scenarios (is your answer different in any of them):

a: A white man is accused of raping a white woman (ie: a crime with no race element and where a race element could not be perceived)

b: A black man is accused of raping a white woman (a crime with the potential to be perceived to have a race element)

c: A white man is accused of racially aggrevated assault towards his asian neighbour as it is said that he yelled a racist comment to his neighbour in the middle of a dispute in which he also spat on his neighbour. (ie: a crime where race is an inherent aspect of the offence).


2. You are prosecuting. The defendant is unrepresented. You have learned of a number of mitigating factors which the defendant fails to put forwards himself. To what extent are you obliged to put forward those matters on his behalf and how would you go about doing so?

Let's assume that 'asking a senior member of chambers' or 'phoning the Bar ethics hotline' are not options.

I know what I think my answers would be, but I would like to have them confirmed!


Thank you for your thoughts.