Name: Liisa Lahti Chambers: Quadrant Chambers Location: London University: University of Cambridge Degree: Law
a truly amazing experience,” she recounts. “The rigour and speed of the judges’ thought process was inspiring.” A changing world Are there any wider issues affecting the commercial Bar that aspiring barristers should know about? “A lot,” she laughs, highlighting that “there are various ongoing investigations by regulators into the financial world, while Brexit is creating various challenges for businesses and cybercrime is ever present. And as always in the law, we are to a certain extent dealing with yesterday’s problems, but there is no telling what yesterday’s problems will be the day after tomorrow.” There tends to be more paperwork involved at the commercial Bar than others such as family and crime because the cases tend to be longer and rely more on detail – both legal and factual. You need confidence, rigour, a good memory, commitment and an ability to boil things down To face these challenges and keep up with a changing world, she believes the Bar needs to continue to modernise. “This means being ever more inclusive and diverse,” she argues, “as well as staying connected with global, political and financial developments to remain relevant and continue to be a source of legal expertise and high- quality advocacy.”
where your strengths and interests lie. Being a commercial barrister is very different from other areas of the Bar both in terms of your day-to-day life and in terms of the work that you will be doing, so it is important to get to know the differences. As clichéd as it sounds, be yourself – the best advocates are. That said, think carefully before you answer questions and be as precise and logical in your answers as you can. There are many different ways to be a barrister. There are plenty of stereotypes but no one form of background, character or intellectual curiosity makes a perfect barrister.”
Liisa signs off with some valuable advice for future barristers: “Think carefully about
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