Everyone who has decided to pursue a career in the law has at some point had to make the big decision: barrister or solicitor? I think my law tutor was somewhat shocked that I had decided to become a barrister after watching Kavanagh, QC, but I was captivated by the gasps of the jury, the twists and turns of the trial, the drama of stopping a miscarriage of justice in its tracks. Being a barrister seemed like the most exciting profession in the world - a high-octane pantomime with expensive wigs. So what if you have to go through the paint-drying tedium of the application process before you get there?

Out of my year at university, only four of us took the Bar route. The rest had training contracts sewn up by the beginning of the final year with no condition as to degree results, which left them grinning like Cheshire cats at us poor few. The response among solicitors is a mix of respect and sympathy, as if you're taking a vow of celibacy. "I couldn’t do it, but good on you for trying." This isn't helped when you go to careers fairs and watch as "magic circle" firms offer prospective trainees Frisbees, pony rides and hot air ballooning over the Masai Mara. At the chambers' stands a bag of boiled sweets is cause for celebration.

I realise the distinction between barristers and solicitors has decreased. It used to be that barristers were easy to distinguish by their swaggering public school aura while solicitors pushed paper: they did all the work while we took all the credit. But now that solicitor advocates are on the rise and junior commercial barristers spend as much time researching and drafting opinions as they do in court, the work that you're likely to do in the first years of either career route is really pretty similar.

But in spite of that, the allure of the Bar was too great to resist. I like the idea of being self-employed. In a law firm, you have the security of a regular salary, while as a barrister once you have completed pupillage you are paid only for the work that you undertake (minus rent for chambers and clerks' fees). Silks won't hold your hands on the way to court or help draft your arguments; you have to survive by your own initiative and organisation skills. The deadlines are tight (we've all heard the stories about receiving instructions at five in the evening for a trial the follow morning). But on the other hand, the independence and freedom that comes with being your own boss seems to me to be far preferable to working in a corporate sausage factory in the City.

Then there's the collegiality. The Inns feel like almost like the Hogwarts School. Yes, that has its downside - gossip travels quicker around Temple than the traffic - but it allows you to build relationships with fascinating people. No two days are the same. You learn to expect the unexpected.

That, at any rate, is what I'm hoping. Time will tell if I've made the right choice.

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