Bleak times ahead for wannabe advocates
An advertisement for a Manchester-based barrister has just been posted online, offering a measly salary of £6.70 per hour.
The unlucky recruit will be based at Manchester airport, but will have the chance to top up their paltry pay with an extra 50p per hour through a sales related bonus scheme.
Tempted? OK, we completely accept that the ad was meant to read ‘barista’ instead. That said, there is increasing cross-over between the two sectors (especially as the legal aid cuts bite) — see Heidi Cotton’s story about jacking in the bar to run a café.
And with under 400 pupillages available annually, it’s not as if there is a shortage of jobless Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) graduates — over 1,500 of whom do the course each year and are awarded the title of ‘barrister’ upon graduation.
Anyhow, mixing up your ‘baristas’ and ‘barristers’ is an easy mistake to make, and the coffee shop recruiter can sleep easy knowing it’s one that’s been made countless times before.
When the barrister makes you a coffee as if she hates you #mondayblues
— WAZZA (@warrenpapier) March 7, 2016
When you find a barrister that knows your order within a couple of visits & makes you the best coffee… It is truly a beautiful thing. ??
— Alice Cooke Harvie (@AliceCooke3) February 24, 2016
I hope one day I'm rich enough for an in house coffee barrister.
— Kieran Burlinson (@KieranBurloo) February 23, 2016
I'm early for my interview so I went in a cute coffee shop and the Italian barrister flirted with me
— ☆ Hot Tramp ☆ (@Rosienicole_) February 10, 2016