Common law
my supervisors. By the end of the third ‘seat’ the tenancy decision was taken.”
The common law Bar remains an attractive option for those who believe that variety is the spice of life. Typically, common law chambers are multi-disciplinary and are divided into practice groups so that members can develop and maintain specialisations. Areas of practice can include actions against the police, employment disputes, discrimination law, landlord and tenant, personal injury, professional negligence, family law and criminal law. Assisting the Grenfell Tower Inquiry; developing a clinical negligence practice simultaneously with a niche in criminal injuries compensation law; carrying out work for the government – it might sound like the record of a barrister of many years’ experience, but true to the nature of the common law Bar, Rajkiran Barhey has added all this and more to her CV at four years’ call. She discovered her passion for this most varied of areas as a student: “The modules I most enjoyed studying were tort and public law, so when I applied for pupillage, I targeted sets that work in these areas. I wouldn’t say that I knew much about clinical negligence before I became a barrister – the learning really starts once you’re called to the Bar.” Pupillage at 1 Crown Office Row was “a brilliant learning experience,” she enthuses. “Of course, it was tough at times – and, as a tenant, I’m allowed to speak my mind now – but, it was a unique and formative process. Over the course of 12 months, I sat with David Manknell, Matthew Barnes, Leanne Woods and Robert Wastell, all of whom have quite different practices. The first six months – creatively known as the ‘first six’ – were non-practising, meaning I spent my days accompanying my supervisor to court, conferences and settlement meetings – and drafting paperwork, such as pleadings, skeleton arguments and advices. In my second six I was allowed to practise, which meant that I started heading off to county courts to do hearings in small claims but still continued to do work for
The sheer variety of experience she gained stood her in good stead to develop her own practice. “I particularly remember watching proceedings at the General Chiropractic Council in a case involving a chiropractor accused of making inflated claims about the ability of chiropractic treatment to cure a variety of ailments,” she recalls. “I also spent two days at the Court of Appeal watching my supervisor being led in an immigration case concerning the Calais camp clearances. I sat in on numerous negotiations and conferences in clinical negligence cases, ranging from an alleged missed diagnosis of cauda equina (a spinal condition), to a negligent angiography which led to the death of a young mother with four children. I also spent some time in the Coroner’s courts, most memorably in a case involving a young man known to mental health services who’d taken his own life. One highlight was watching one silk from chambers against another in a case concerning an alleged failure to diagnose cardiac abnormalities in a foetus. I also headed along to the Tax Tribunal and to a hearing in a public inquiry.” Civil cases and public inquiries Now a junior tenant, Rajkiran has a mixed practice with a strong focus on civil cases and medical law, predominantly clinical negligence: “The kind of work you do at my stage includes drafting pleadings such as particulars of claim and defences; attending cost and case management conferences – CCMCs – which are procedural hearings where you set the timetable for each stage of the case, such as when the expert reports need to be ready; and conferences with experts to go through the evidence and assess the case. Quantum work is another important aspect, so I’m also involved in drafting schedules and counter schedules.” Inquests are also a big part of her work at 1 Crown Office Row, acting for both families and other interested parties such as doctors.
For more chambers that work in this practice area, please use the ‘Pupillage index’.
THE LAWCAREERS.NET HANDBOOK 390
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online