Cumberland Lodge, an encounter with Queen Elizabeth, and finishing up at my first chambers

I am so sorry about the lapse in my blog posts. Please excuse me and believe me when I tell you that I have been so busy with my chambers work, court visits, travel, and getting the most out of this magical experience. Since I last wrote, I finished my time at 3 Hare Court chambers, and I started at Charter Chambers last week. Currently, I am observing a murder trial; two of the barristers at my new chambers are defending one of the four defendants in this case. The criminal system here contains many similarities to the US criminal law system (burden for the prosecution, jury trial, etc.). However, as much as they are similar, the systems differ regarding jury selection (there is virtually no jury selection in the UK, unlike the US courts), the UK's more relaxed attitude on hearsay, and trial procedure. I plan to analyze these similarities and differences at the conclusion of my time at this chamber. For this post, I would like to highlight some other events.

CUMBERLAND LODGE
Every few months, the Inner Temple Inn hosts a three-day retreat at Cumberland Lodge, dubbed "advocacy training." It is essentially a CLE or education retreat for aspiring barristers. The Inner Temple invited me and my co-scholar to join this retreat. Cumberland Lodge is part of the Queen's large Windsor property (also the location for the majestic and inimitable Windsor Castle). For several centuries, the reigning king or queen asked his or her best friend to live in the lodge, so they could be in close proximity to the castle. In the 20th century, King George VI determined that this should lodge should house educational pursuits, and now a non-profit leases the building from the royals for this purpose. Please see the picture of the mansion below.


Besides general advocacy training and various exercises on how to represent clients, the weekend also included legal ethics lectures and food, drinking and entertainment (the latter three comprised a large part of the weekend). The title for the weekend was "Integrity in Sport-Uneasy Bedfellows?" Many of the lectures and exercises focused on the subject of illegal sports betting and use of drugs in sports. I was pleasantly surprised that the Inn was able to secure some internationally recognized experts in the field, including Max Mosley, a former barrister and former president of the governing body for Formula One racing. He is also well-known for bringing a successful lawsuiit against the now defunct News of the World tabloid paper, due to articles they published about him.

After a few glasses of wine during Friday's social hour, I reluctantly agreed to partake in the entertainment and skits that Master Salter always coordinates for Saturday nights at advocacy training weekends. He was very serious about it and actually scheduled several times throughout the weekend where we had proper rehearsals for our skits. The skits on Saturday night ranged from songs, music, spoken prose, and funny skits about becoming a barrister or skits completely unrelated to the profession. Luckily, I had a small role in a skit about a dating show.






See above for Master Salter on the piano and my role in the skits.

Between attending lectures and advocacy exercises, I also had the chance to take advantage of the great weather and picturesque property and walking trails of the Windsor gardens.






THE QUEEN

When we arrived at Cumberland Lodge on Friday, the director of the lodge informed us that we could go to the Royal Chapel on Sunday for a Church of England service, if we notified him by Saturday morning and gave our name and nationality for a background check. I jumped at the opportunity to do so because this chapel is where the Queen goes for her Sunday church services when she is at Windsor Castle, which is roughly half the time she is in England

On Sunday, a group of the Cumberland Lodgers made the 15 minute walk to another part of the Windsor grounds to attend the Royal Chapel service. While the chapel itself was nicely decorated, contained gorgeous stained glass windows and the traditional gothic architecture of many churches in the UK, I was surprised that it was small and quaint for the head of the Church of England/Queen of the UK to attend regularly, as there were only about 15 rows of pews in one relatively small room. I appreciated its charm and tight-knit qualities and setting within the Windsor gardens.

The Queen, if she attends church, sits in a pew in the front of the room, surrounded by drapes, so no one could tell whether she was at church during the service. However, I had a suspicion she was there. After the service, everyone shuffled out of the entrance to the church, and the minister greeted all of the passers-by. Because I spent some time walking around the church and admiring the setting, I was one of the last people out. As I walked out the door, Queen Elizabeth literally stood five feet away from the entrance and to the right, standing on the lawn and observing the people leaving the church. Honestly, she looked amazing as she wore a bright cobalt blue suit, matching coat and matching hat. I was star-struck. As she looked at everyone, and since I was the closest person to her at the time, she looked right at me. When she did that, I didn't know what to do except smile and nod (perhaps I should have curtsied too). She smiled and nodded back. Moments later, Prince Phillip finished a conversation, walked over to her, and walked her to their car. Prince Phillip got in the driver's seat and drove away with Queen Elizabeth at his side, presumably back to the castle.

I was surprised with the minimal security for the service, even though both Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were very accessible. Yes, the police conducted a background check, but upon entering the chapel area, we only had to provide an ID and a pass supplied by Cumberland Lodge. We received no pat down nor did we walk through a metal detector. I was refreshed and surprised by the lack of intrusive security measures for the church service.

A QUICK TRIP TO EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Right after the Cumberland Lodge weekend, John and I caught a train to spend one night and one day in Edinburgh to meet with the advocates there. I'll write more about this later, but I'll leave you with some fun pictures of Ediburgh.




Standing in Old Edinburgh, close to the Faculty of Advocates (where Scotland's barristers are located).



The world-famous Greyfriars Bobby Statue (I strongly suggest looking it up if you don't know the heartwarming story, whether it is fact or fiction).


In front of Edinburgh Castle, upon the conclusion of our quick trip.

Please stay tuned for more about my Scotland Trip, a visit to the UK Supreme Court, and more! As always, please let me know if you have any questions about the UK legal system!

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Location:London, UK and beyond

My second week at my first chambers

MY FIRST VISIT TO THE ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE
My second week at the 3 Hare Court Chambers commenced with a visit to the main court in England and an observation of an oral argument to the High Court (complete with wigs and everything!).

Although I have walked passed the Royal Courts of Justice on Fleet Street every day, I have not been in the grandiose building until this past week. (NOTE: I promise I will post pictures soon!). If you google it, you might be able to see some pictures. I cannot emphasize how big and grand it is, and it looks like a huge medieval palace, although it was built in the 1800s. Even inside, the main area is large and cavernous, with tall ceilings and intricate beam work. The court room is cozier and more intimate than American court rooms, but like the rest of the building, the room itself is aesthetically beautiful, with dark wood, antique-looking books and bookshelves that surround the room, and a the judge's desk literally on a pedestal. The lawyers sit in the first row facing the judge, in front of the "bar", and the courtroom has an additional four or five rows of seating directly behind the bar. The room lacks an aisle in the middle of the room (present in most American courtrooms).

The argument itself, like American cases, was open to the public. The barristers were there on a defamation/libel case regarding a tabloid and misinformation it published. The issue presented was how much should the tabloid pay the Claimant, as the tabloid admitted that they published falsities.

Unlike American trials and particularly oral arguments, the court did not focus on much case law. Most of the oral arguments were based on facts and common decency. When each barrister spoke, they stood up and went through the reasons why or why not the tabloid should/shouldn't pay a certain amount. The barristers were very cordial to each other and the judge. All them joked around as well. The arguments took an entire day (this probably would not be the case in the US--it would be much shorter). The day went by quickly because the topic itself was extremely interesting, and I felt so lucky to be able to watch, in person, a tabloid defamation case when we hear about these types of things on the news. During breaks, the barrister I shadowed (who argued to the judge) was able to give me a play-by-play.

COURTROOM PROTOCOL
I noticed that unlike US courtrooms, the judge did not use a gavel. A bailiff-type person told us to stand up for the judge. Everytime that happens, the judge walks from his chambers to his desk, looks at everyone in the courtroom, and everyone (including the barristers, judge, and bystanders) bow their heads. Then everyone sits down after the judge sits down.

All of the barristers in the courtroom had to wear wigs! I cannot express how much this really made it feel like I was a bystander in a historical movie that takes place in England because the tradition of the wigs goes back hundreds of years. A female barrister argued for the other side, and she also wore a wig. In addition to the wigs, the barristers wear long black robes. Keeping this tradition alive makes me think this shows how seriously they take their profession and advocacy on behalf of their client. I analogize it to doctors wearing white coats when they see patients, even if it is not necssary. When they wear their clothes--they are practicing their art and taking it seriously. So do barristers. The act of advocating on behalf of one's client and giving them a voice in the legal system to seek justice is an art.

Something else I noticed was that the barristers used the term "Lord" when they were speaking to the judge. For example, they used the terms "yes, my lord" no "my lord" or "does your lordship want a recess" and so on. I took note of this because first of all, that sounds so official and obviously is something we would never say in a United States, let alone a United States courtroom. Second, I am obsessed with the PBS/Masterpiece Theater show, Downtown Abbey (if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!). One of the main characters is a Lord and head of the household. When people speak to him, they use those terms as well. Again, this demeanor in the courtroom reiterates the tradition behind the British legal system and how the British hold the law and judges in such high regard.

CLIENT CONSULTATIONS
I was able to attend several in-person and telephone client consultations. Actually, the consultations occur with the solicitors (who already represent the clients and who already analyzed the facts and law for the clients' issue), the clients themselves, and the barristers who listen to the client and solicitors to see if it is litigable case.

As I mentioned previously, the solicitors are not affiliated with the barristers in anyway. They come from their own law firms. When they determine they need to pursue or look into litigation, they ask a barrister to do so, so essentially the solicitors are the ones that hire the barristers. Barristers do not necessarily work with one particular solicitor, and at any time, they might be working with a number of them around London for different cases.

Because the barrister does not directly receive funds from the client (the solicitor pays him/her from the money they receive from the client), no stringent rules apply to barristers regarding separating accounts for the clients' money. I spoke to several barristers about this, and several of them mentioned that the money goes directly into their personal checking accounts since they are all independent anyway.

MORE TO COME
Now that I highlighted some of my activities from last week, I will post pictures and more about the historic Inns of Court in London, a day in the life of a Barrister, and some other factoids, as well as other things to do around London within the next few days.

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Location:London, England