A Day at the 'Bar' - Lamb Chambers Barristers Company Trek

After all the snow in early March we got lucky.  A fine crisp Wednesday morning and an early start on to University campus to greet everyone heading down to the Lamb Chambers company trek. The general idea was to board a bus by the Barber Institute, head down by bus with 21 University of Lamb Chambers Barristers right in the London district of Temple – next to the River Thames and close to the news and media frenzy that is Fleet Street.
Birmingham students and get a guided tour of a company called

The trip down the M40 motorway went well....to a point. We landed in central London on time, with an hour to hustle through central London traffic. Alas, this was the turning point in our journey – what should have taken 30 minutes ended up taking 2 hours! A total of 6 miles! (Note to self – avoid central London locations in the future). I have to admit, the students did very well with their patience and our coach driver was an angel, keeping calm throughout.

The traffic problems were soothed by the sights around us - as red open top buses and London taxis edged past us we took in views of  Trafalgar Square, London Eye, Harrods and Madame Tussauds. 

Lamb Chambers Barristers

Never good to be late on arrival but we headed into Temple on foot and finally found the Lamb Chambers Barristers offices. We were greeted by Birmingham alumnus James Browne – senior barrister and Chamber Director Mark Rowlands. This was a great way for University of Birmingham students to get an insight not only into the world of pupillage, but also to find out what it takes to become a barrister. They talked to students about what it takes to stand at the 'bar' and my eyes lit up (BL)  -  in this case they were talking about the courtroom bar addressing a judge and the responsibility that comes with representing clients in a court of law.

We were impressed with our students, having informed them, they must come prepared with questions for the employer, the Q&A round lasted a full 1 hour 45 minutes. We were then provided a full tour of the office and its setting in the beautiful location of Middle Temple off Fleet Street where
the journalists live.

Office surroundings:

We learned one of the many priveleges of working in Middle Temple was the working environment, for example access to a Tudor dated library:

This includes access to over 250,000 books, journals and law reports. 'www.middletemple.org', 2018.

A steep learning curve for me, I knew nothing about what Barristers do, how they get in to their careers and how hard their work and career journey is. The positives are that once you are in the profession, you are very well looked after. There is a sense of family with colleagues you work with. I got the feeling Barristers and Clerks do what they love, do what they are good at and what pays well… overall  #win-win - Hassana

It was so interesting to find out what life is like as a Barrister especially as this is not a subject I am familiar with. It is great to get behind the scenes access to a firm like Lamb Chambers Barristers who were really open about the work they put in and the many privileges that come with it. The surrounding area around Temple is also well worth the walk and the central location by the Thames gave a real sense of place. Great learning experience and the tourist sights were a bonus along the way! Bob 

Lamb Chambers Barristers are a leading set of barristers specialising in Commercial, Property, Personal injury and Intellectial property law.

B-Enterprising run Company treks to different sectors throughout the academic year. Find out about their next Company Trek's here. 

Blog post written by Hassana Ahmed and Bob Lee.