BabyBarista

A worm's eye view of the English Bar

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Archive for May, 2007

Law and Disorder

If you have enjoyed reading parts of this blog and meeting the characters, you might enjoy reading the book in which I re-wrote BabyBarista’s first year in chambers and his fight for tenancy. It is published by Bloomsbury (of Harry Potter fame) and is called Law and Disorder. It was described by broadcaster Jeremy Vine […]

May 31, 2007 · Tim Kevan · Comments Closed
Posted in: Uncategorized

Day 168, week 35: leader boards

Had a small personal injury case today worth around £2,000 and yet I still managed somehow to recover some £11,000 of costs for my solicitors.  Alice in Wonderland territory if you ask me.  It even gave the judge cause to remark.  Except he didn’t just remark.  He was clearly an excitable man who wanted a […]

May 30, 2007 · Tim Kevan · 2 Comments
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Day 164, week 34: OldFatherTime

What is it about the Temple and its inhabitants which defy the onward march of time so successfully?  It is as if, as someone has written, old Father Time himself had just popped in a few hundred years ago and decided to perch down for a rest.  “Here you are my friend.  Have a seat […]

May 24, 2007 · Tim Kevan · 3 Comments
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Day 161, week 34: karma

Today I was doodling over UpTights’ picture using MS Paint.  I’d added a witch’s hat and a broomstick along with a few warts and was about to send it off to Claire when an email from the stretched one pinged into my inbox and I read it quickly.  From the title of this post, you […]

May 21, 2007 · Tim Kevan · 3 Comments
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Day 160, week 33: LatinLover

What is it about using Latin in court that both attracts the most pompous members of the profession and also manages to unleash class warfare?  Today I had the smallest of car cases imaginable.  Couldn’t be more down to earth, all sitting around a table in the small claims court.  But it didn’t stop my […]

May 18, 2007 · Tim Kevan · 6 Comments
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Day 156, week 33: attention deficit disorder

I appeared in front of a District Judge today about whom I had already heard a great deal.  He’s become infamous for playing online bridge during hearings instead of taking notes of the evidence.  I think he still believes that he’s getting away with it since he very carefully guards his computer screen so that […]

May 14, 2007 · Tim Kevan · 3 Comments
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Day 155, week 32: grateful losers

Got back from my first case today at about 1pm only for the clerks to hand me some more papers for another case which was due to start in Lambeth at 2pm.  It gave me about a quarter of an hour to prepare the case on the train.  Impossible position as I couldn’t very well […]

May 11, 2007 · Tim Kevan · 3 Comments
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Day 153, week 32: judge not

This morning I asked UpTights if she believed the client we saw in conference yesterday. “Not for me to say BabyB.  Not for me.  That’s the judge’s job.” “But what if it’s completely obvious?” “Come on BabyB.  You should know that by now.  If we only represented clients we thought were telling the truth we […]

May 9, 2007 · Tim Kevan · 7 Comments
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Day 152, week 32: get out of jail free card

Followed UpTights to a client conference today.  It all concerned a car accident in which our man drove into an old lady on a zebra crossing.  The client’s concerned as he’s being prosecuted for dangerous driving and risks losing his licence.  The insurer is even more concerned about the possible claim for care costs which […]

May 8, 2007 · Tim Kevan · 5 Comments
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Day 149, week 31: Claire

Let me introduce you to my best friend from Bar School.  I’m not prepared to give her a nick-name.  Just wouldn’t feel right.  I’ll just omit to tell you her surname.  So.  It’s Claire.  There.  You’ve got the name now.  Claire, the one pupil I can trust to give me honest advice.  Hard-working, ambitious and […]

May 3, 2007 · Tim Kevan · 6 Comments
Posted in: Uncategorized

• « Older Entries

• THE MAIN CHARACTERS

• OldSmoothie

  
• Think Peter Bowles in To The Manor Born and Milk Tray Man, but not quite. Once successful barrister now put out to graze as a committee man.

• TheCreep

  
• Jumped up little twerp who sucks up to the big beasts in chambers and struts around as if he's really something when actually he's not.

• SlipperySlope

  
  

  Solicitor skilled in the art of creative billing. Has the airs and graces of a country squire but is more a cross between Arthur Daley and Boycie from 'Only Fools and Horses'.

• Smutton

  
  

  Brassy to UpTights’s classy and yet still, somehow, sexy.

• NurserySlope

  
  

  Solicitor who is SlipperySlope's neice. Skis, rides and looks like a horse.

• JetSet

  
  

  A new solicitor character who's got a training contract and lords it over PanicStricken. She's wealthy, well- connected and spends most weekends either skiing or clubbing abroad.

• ScandalMonger

  
• Ruthless PR guru who has become one of BabyB's secret litigation weapons

• BigMouth

  
• Pompous Tory MP stuck on the backbenches like a piece of old chewing gum

• BusyBody

  
• A whirlwind of interference with a good heart and always up for a fight, particularly with OldSmoothie.

• TopFirst

  
• BabyB’s sworn enemy and former fellow pupil

• BabyBarista

  
• A young Flashman meets Rumpole meets Francis Urquart for the 21st century

• OldFatherTime

  
• A whisper on the wind, Highlander-type figure who is older than time itself

• TheVamp

  
• Tenant in chambers and a walking Carry On film of an innuendo

• OldRuin

  
• How a barrister should be. Dumbledore meets Clarence, the angel in Its a Wonderful Life. BabyB’s redemption.

• TheBusker

  
• Barrister of ten years call with the integrity and decency of OldRuin. Very laid back in his approach to both court and life. Admired by BabyB.

• TheBoss

  
• BabyB’s ex-pupilmaster. Unscrupulous, spineless coward.

• HeadClerk

  
• The real power in chambers. All seeing, all knowing.

• PupilFodder

  
• Learner Barrister foisted upon his unsuspecting client who gets shredded in court

• UpTights

  
• BabyB’s pupilmistress for his second six months who was almost called BoTucks for the work she’s had done. Insists on boundaries and personal space. Has ‘issues’.

• JudgeJewellery

  
• Judge with penchant for stealing high street trinkets