Why did you decide to study law?
I wanted to study something practical and also knew I wanted to be a barrister – I fell in love with the idea from watching the old television series Crown Court.

What was the most important lesson you learnt during your degree?
You succeed by hard work. Lots of people are very bright but not so many work hard, apply themselves and have good common sense. Academic knowledge is taken for granted in practice. Law education provides the ability to think logically and find solutions – these skills are incredibly important in the real world.

What would you advise students to do between finishing their degree and embarking on their professional qualifications?
I would recommend continuing with studies (BVC/LPC) while your study skills are current and your legal knowledge is not too distant. If you need a break, take it after the that.

How important in your view is it to be at a ‘critical law school’? Does critical legal theory have a place in practice?
Ninety-nine per cent of practice is fact management within a wellestablished legal framework. I loved it when I had a case with some juicy bits of law involved. I think the skills you learn from critical legal theory are an important foundation for every lawyer and offer transferable skills prized in wider employment (and most law undergraduates do not go on to practice law).

Do you believe Oxbridge and non- Oxbridge graduates have equal opportunities in the legal profession?It is getting better but more can be done. The best lawyers I have met are well rounded and have experienced life. I come from a very poor workingclass area of South Yorkshire, from a single-parent family; none of my family had attended university – they
did not value education. Of my entire year at school, only three went to university and this was in the 1980s, so I like to think not that long ago. I worked hard and got a first-class honours degree, a scholarship to do a Master’s and a further scholarship to read for the Bar. I joined one of the very best sets of Chambers in London, once headed by the then current Lord Chancellor. I am now a director of a publicly listed company. So I am an example of how a non- Oxbridge graduate can achieve, but at every step of my career I have experienced the ‘Oxbridge factor’. To counter this, I have introduced scholarships at BPP to help students without connections.

Why did you decide to become a barrister and not a solicitor?
I thought the work would be more interesting and I hated the idea of not having complete conduct of a case before the courts. Although my specialism became personal injury and clinical negligence, I did have visions of conducting jury trials (and I did many in the later years of my practice). I have been lucky enough to sit part-time in a judicial capacity and being familiar with courtroom practice has been a great benefit.

What qualities are important in order to be a great barrister?
Hard work, common sense, being practical, dealing with problems logically and the ability to get on with people and communicate on their level. Knowledge of the law is taken for granted. Getting all this over to an interview panel in a 15-minute
interview is also a skill in itself!

Are there enough options for those who study law but do not want to enter the legal profession?
Oh yes! Your education provides you with a foundation for a massive variety of careers. Business people are impressed by the skills lawyers have. The law affects every aspect of our lives. To name a few options: human resources, accountancy, company secretary, marketing, sales, teaching, consultancy, planning, health and safety, environmental health, media, local government – and lawyers make great business entrepreneurs. Most things require extra study for the relevant professional qualification and given the current recession it is probably sensible to stay in education until things pick up.

What advice would you give those about to start their LPC or the BVC?
Brush up on basic contract/tort law (plus property law if you are doing the LPC). Don’t be too worried if you don’t have a pupillage/training contract yet – that is by far and away the norm. At BPP we are not seeing law firms reducing trainee numbers. Law firms made the mistake of reducing trainee numbers in the last recession and ended up with too few solicitors once the economy picked up. The best advice I can give is that recessions don’t last forever and you must make sure you have the right skills to be ready when the upturn comes. Never give up on what you know you want to do! My wife made over 100 training contract applications before she got her first interview! She made partner in that firm.

Do you think BBC2’s The Barristers was realistic?
Yes. It followed three BPP students studying on the BVC, two being lucky enough to find pupillage. National statistics suggest only about one in three find a pupillage that easily so perhaps the BBC were lucky with their selection of students. The Bar is
under pressure from cost-saving initiatives within the CPS (employing barristers) and Jack Straw’s view that there are too many community-funded barristers. Its portrayal of life at the Bar and the lack of money at the outset was accurate; I recall doing full-day trials for £25 and it taking four years for the solicitors to pay my fees.

What are the benefits of the aptitude test for students wishing to take the BVC (soon to be called Bar Professional Training Course) in 2010?
In my view, very little, but let me be impartial and put forward the other argument. I understand that some providers (not BPP) do not have very high admission requirements and the Bar Standards Board is concerned that weak students hold others back. Presumably the benefit is that those who are thought to be made of the right stuff will be able to avoid mixing with the lower mortals! I am sceptical because I have seen this done before and I believe it ended in tears when a racial bias was found in the test. I am worried we will end up with a bit of unintentional social engineering. Some students will undoubtedly be put off taking the test; adding hurdles to a profession that is daunting enough to enter is not a good idea. That said, GMAT scores determine MBA entrance and some law schools use entrance tests because they do not trust A-level grades. With both examples, a student can always choose a different provider. I hope it works out well.

What do you see as the main challenges for the legal profession?
The ever-growing reduction in funding for what was once called Legal Aid will inevitably deny justice to many unless we as a profession can work out alternative funding arrangements. This recession should teach us not to allow the excesses of a few to spoil it for the majority. ‘Fat cats’ and sevenfigure partnership excesses should be viewed as the exceptions. For those in the commercial world, there is an opportunity on the horizon with multidisciplinary partnerships, and accountants are still dominating the corporate advisor world.

How would you like the profession to develop over the next ten years?
I would like to see the continuance of high-quality professional training for all new entrants, and more students from varied backgrounds with open minds to reach positions of influence. What marks lawyers as professionals is our integrity, so I hope to see no repeats of solicitors benefiting at the cost of their clients (for example, with the recent mining cases).

What is a typical day for you?
I leave my house in Canterbury at 6.20am and am usually at my desk in Holborn by 8.10am. If I am sitting as a part-time tribunal member, I usually deal with a few emails before heading off to the hearing chamber for 9am. We sit from 9.30am to 5.30pm, then I am back in the office until about 7pm. I arrive back in Canterbury about 9pm.

What do you do in your spare time?
I enjoy learning and seem to have collected lots of qualifications along the way because of it. I enjoy meeting different people and learning about their cultures. I collect books about interesting people and history – I have literally thousands of them. The idea that these lovely books will become digital books appals me!

What is your greatest achievement?
I have been with BPP since 1996 and built it into a law school with over 6,000 students each year undertaking the LPC, BVC and GDL. It was the first London law school to be rated “Excellent” by the Law Society. More law firms have signed exclusive training agreements with BPP than with any other training provider. In 2007, BPP became the first private company in the ‘for profit’ sector to be granted degree-awarding powers. I am the longest-serving member of staff and the most senior. I built up a great team that has established four new law schools. We have won The Lawyer Pro Bono awards and I was nominated one of The Lawyer’s Hot 100 Lawyers. In 2009, we are opening a new business school. But none of this compares to my greatest achievement, my four children!

For details of BPP scholarships, go to: www.bpplawschool.com/funding_and_scholarships/annual_ scholarship_programmes.htm