Letter from the Secret Barrister
Letter from the President of the Law Society
When I made the decision to study law at university, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. While I was intrigued by the idea (largely due to having consumed an unhealthy quantity of John Grisham), nobody I knew had any links to the legal profession, and I was equally attracted to the notion of pursuing English Literature. No doubt my life would have taken a very different path had the coin landed on heads instead of tails.
The opportunity that SPRUCE offers to introduce sixth formers to the study and practice of law is something that I dearly wish had been available twenty years ago. For all its challenges, law is a career that I would hand-on-heart recommend to anybody. There is nothing quite like it. Whichever branch of the profession you join, and whatever your specialism, you are playing a vital part in upholding the rule of law, providing access to justice for those who need it. For all the lawyer jokes that popular culture enjoys telling us, the truth is that our democracy depends on what we do. The weight of that responsibility never leaves you.
Law is a vocation that satisfies the intellect and never stops piquing your curiosity. It stretches you in ways you cannot predict and would struggle to imagine. It teaches you lessons you didn’t know you needed to learn. It shows you the world in ways you hadn’t thought about, and exposes you to sides of our society you didn’t know existed. You see the worst of humanity, and the very best. This job can be frustrating, exhilarating, exhausting and infuriating. But no day is never dull.
I hope that a glimpse of that over your time with SPRUCE encourages you to join us.
See you in court.
The Secret Barrister
* The Secret Barrister is a Barrister whose identity is unknown but who has written and spoken extensively on the Justice System in England. Nobody knows who he or she is, but he/she has provided us with the above photograph! SPRUCE recommends you consider reading the Secret Barrister’s books
The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken
Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies
Nothing But the Truth: Stories of Crime, Guilt and the Loss of Innocence
