We have been asked to advise a number of advocates appealing decisions made under the CPS Advocate Panel Scheme 2011 and were stunned to see that prospective appeallants are only allowed 200 words to challenge decisions which, for some will have a disastrous impact on their career.

As the one of us who practiced Judicial Review for 14 years muttered ‘ unfair and unreasonable’!

 Silk interview notifications have now been sent to some candidates, adding stress, excitement and apprehension to those in pursuit of the award of Queen’s Counsel. The process of applying for silk is far more testing in terms of time, energy and focus required to complete the silk application form, cost of participation and length of the competition. 

 We sometimes wonder whether those determined and able enough to reach this stage deserve the award for that achievement!  As ever we shall be providing our silk interview advice sessions with video recorded mock interviews until 10pm weekdays.

 We wish all candidates the very best of luck.

The new Crown Prosecution Service Advocate Panel Scheme 2011 has launched, receiving mixed reactions from Prosecutors. All advocates undertaking prosecution work in the Crown Court (and Higher Courts) from October must be members of new, quality-controlled CPS Advocate Panels.

The panels are open to all barristers and solicitor advocates and panel members will complement and work alongside CPS in-house advocates. The fact that the overall number of advocates on the panels will be reduced compared to the current lists, coupled with uncertainty over how applicant’s will be assessed, has led to a number of lawyers expressing concern that prosectors who have prosecuted for many years will lose their role as the result of an untried and untested application process.

We are surprised that a scheme that will clearly have a dramatic effect on the livelihoods of many lawyers, does not include interviews in the way the judicial and silk appointment schemes do. This clearly limits an applicants chances to show themselves in the best posssible light.

As a result of a number of requests, we have decided to provide advice on how an applicant can maximise their chances of success, using the techniques we provide for the silk and judicial competitions.

The 2011-12 Silk competition has now opened. Applicants have until 5pm on Wednesday 20th April to lodge their applications. The silk application fee  is £1950+ VAT. The ‘success fee’ for the award of Queen’s Counsel is £3500 + VAT.

The silk form can be downloaded from the QCA’s website along with copies of the guidance.

You can find more information about the service we provide to Silk applicant’s here http://www.judicialappointmentstraining.co.uk/silk-applications.php . Lat year more than 80% of the applicant’s we advised received an interview. We aim to beat this figure this year. 

We wish all applicants the best of luck.

JAT

It’s that time of year again. The Bar’s equivalent of the Oscars. Though perhaps all of the stress but with less of the glamour.

The Queen’s Counsel list will be published on Wednesday 2nd March 2011 and the new silk competition will open shortly thereafter. And then begins the task of completing the dreaded silk application form. 

We await with baited breath.

 We were asked last week by a client applying to be a District Judge (Magistrates Court), whether it mattered how much time was spent on the application form, given that the Qualifying Test was the sole filter that determined whether someone went onto the Judicial Appointments Commission’s dreaded Selection Day.

The answer is, it matters greatly! If you are fortunate to have got through the Qualifying Test and reached the stage of interview, then a poor application form will do you no favours with the interviewing panel. The Panel will have your form before them and it will be the document that gives them the greatest insight into you as a candidate, before you have stepped in the room.

It is not simply a question of whether you have managed to provide the relevant information in the appropriate manner. There is also the difficulty that sometimes arises when you include something in your form that is positively unhelpful. Your form should be an opportunity to sell yourself rather than hinder.

In our experience, the majority of application forms are poorly completed. Solicitors generally do better than barristers when it comes to completing the self-assessment part of the form.  Examples of the common mistakes we see include relying on third party assessment (it’s a self-assessment) and making assertions rather than demonstrating by example.

So, if you are submitting an application in the District Judge (Magistrates Court) Competition, our advice is take your time and get it right, otherwise it may come back and bite you in the rear when you reach your interview. Not a pleasant experience.

Talking fast is associated with nerves and youth. In the context of your training contract interview, coming across as nervous and ‘young’ is problematic enough, without the added bonus of making it difficult for those interviewing you to follow what you say.

Experienced, effective communicators, lawyers or otherwise, consistently employ the ‘power of the pause’ when speaking publicly. Perhaps the most well known proponent of using pauses in this way is Barack Obama. Watch any of his speeches on You Tube and notice how he uses pauses to enhance his communication impact.

Pausing when speaking, suggests control and communicates authority, particularly when reinforced by good eye contact. Important qualities for any solicitor.

The best way to improve your uses of pauses is through recording yourself while practising. Ideally use video but audio will suffice. Try pausing for three seconds between each key message. Initially it will feel like 10 seconds but when you play it back you will notice it seems perfectly natural and that you sound more authoritative.

One of the questions we are most frequently asked by clients facing a training contract interview, is ‘How should I answer the ‘what is your main weakness’ question’?

One candidate told us that she knew that she was meant was refer to a ‘strength’ in the guise of a weakness e.g. ‘I am a perfectionist’ or ‘I work extremely hard’. Big mistake! Solicitors are not fools and do not appreciate an interviewee being disingenuous.

So what is the right approach? Plainly you would not want to offer a weakness that suggests you are unprofessional e.g. a bad communicator or poor hygiene! Instead, opt for a genuine but ‘safe’ weakness e.g.  poor handwriting.  A weakness many great lawyers suffer from!

We blogged the other day about the fact that the fact that the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) were freezing all advertising of judicial competitions. We grumbled about the fact that this would lead to judicial recruitment  from a smaller pool of applicants.

We were pleased and surprised to receive a call yesterday from the JAC informing us that they had read our blog and wanted us to know they had now obtained an ‘exemption’ and would be able to continue advertising. We are pleased to hear that as well as know that the JAC are reading out blog!

We understand that the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) has decided to put a freeze on advertising the opening of judicial competitions.  We cannot help wonder how this will help ensure that judges are recruited from the widest pool of applicants. Since there was no warning that this was about to happen, it is inevitable that many potential applicants will not be aware that a competiton has opened because they did not see the usual advertisment in Counsel or The Law Society Gazette.  It will be interesting to see what impact this has on the  number of applicants for the imminent District Judge (Magistrates Competition).