The Bar course leading to Call to the Bar (then a three-year course) was in the main comprised of substantive law taught as an academic subject, although, in about 1970, opinion writing and pleading were introduced into the final year and exam however, instruction in oral advocacy was still left to pupil masters. Useful work was certainly being done in the Inn by the late 1960s. Middle Temple has a long history of teaching the core advocacy skills.
That was no more acceptable than would have been a medical profession which expected surgeons to learn how to use a scalpel as they went along. The attitude, which was prevalent for generations, was that the young Bar would learn on the job and those that didn’t, would fail to attract work. Civil litigants are entitled to expect that they will get what they pay for those accused of an offence are entitled to expect that they will be competently defended. It is thus surprising that although the law has been taught for centuries, it is only comparatively recently that an attempt has been made to teach the craft skills that underpin, or should underpin, all advocacy. But inadequate advocacy has real-life consequences. From such events, operas unfold, no one gets hurt (unless the soprano cracks the top note) and we all go home. He wants a change of clothes because he is on his way to prison he is in a bad temper because his lawyer’s plea in mitigation resulted in an increase in sentence from five days to eight. Opera buffs will know that in Die Fledermaus, we meet von Eisenstein when he returns home to change his clothes and is in a very bad temper. Our Students Favourite Qualifying Sessions during the Pandemic.Advocacy training online vs Face-to-Face Training.Internet Advocacy – Remote but not detached.Being a Middle Temple Scholarship Interviewer.An American Anachronism: The Heart Balm Torts.New Zealand: Dealing with Cases of Extreme Violence.My Journey from Albania to the United Nations via the English Bar.A postcard from Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.The Middle Temple Association in Mauritius.The Gibraltar Middle Temple Society – Cryptocurrency.The Age and Future of FinTech in Hong Kong.MTYBA and Renaissance Foundation Mentoring.Studying Law – Some 18th Century Guidance by a Treasurer of Middle Temple.The Talent Retention Steering Group – An Essential Voice for an Important Group of Members.The COIC Pupillage Matched Funding Scheme.
‘Chi ha tempo, ha vita’: Provenance Mysteries at Middle Temple Library.
Bonfires, Banners & Beyond – The Restoration and the Inn.Baron Kenyon (1732-1802): An Outsider who Reached the Summit of his Profession in the Age of Pitt the Younger.