I am a finalist in History at Pembroke and a Foundation Scholar. I undertook a mini pupillage with 6 King’s Bench Walk, College Hill (6KBW) at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) in London in September 2023. I was generously supported throughout the experience by a grant from the LEAP Programme at Pembroke College. Without this I would have found covering the essential costs of transport, living expenses, and attire difficult. This difficulty was particularly pronounced given that my mini was unpaid, as is customary. LEAP made this initial step in gaining work experience at the bar feasible.
While at 6KBW I focussed on the opening of a major double-handed murder prosecution. My mini pupillage supervisor was Lucy Organ, who was junior for the prosecution, led by Annabel Darlow KC (also of 6KBW). The case has now concluded with guilty verdicts for the second defendant in respect of the charge of murder, and for the first defendant on multiple robbery charges.
The case concerned a particularly brutal murder of an isolated elderly woman in her own home, following a sustained campaign of street robbery, home invasion, and intimidation. The evidence presented indicated the possibility of torture and other grievous criminal acts. By their arrest several weeks after the likely date of the murder, the defendant duo had spent over £10,000 of the deceased’s money. Both defendants had identified the victim as frail, isolated, and an easy target. The ultimate goal of their actions, as far as can be discerned, was to exploit the deceased financially.
In my time on the case, I began by observing legal arguments pertaining to the admissibility of an important piece of evidence containing contentious fragments of DNA found in the home of the deceased. These discussions also centred, interestingly, on whether the prosecution or defence should bear responsibility for the obtaining of a second expert opinion on the DNA evidence. These first arguments demonstrated the importance of ensuring that opening statements and submissions are built upon strong evidence that is unlikely to be ruled inadmissible in early legal argumentation.
The next days of my mini pupillage included the opening statement of the prosecution in which Annabel Darlow KC outlined the case, and detailed reconstruction of the events leading up to and following the murder from phone message records, recorded phone calls, CCTV evidence, bank records, and police bodycam footage. The opening statement was fascinating in the way that Ms Darlow KC tailored her advocacy style and narrative to present a clear and evidence-supported structure of events to the jury. The reconstruction of events from various forms of evidence demonstrated the multifaceted nature of the material that criminal barristers deal with on a regular basis, one of the key elements of the bar that I find most intriguing. The police bodycam footage of the finding of the deceased’s body was played in court during the opening of the evidence, alongside cross examination of the police officers and morticians involved. The ingenuity of both the prosecution and defence cross examination was striking, as was the way in which counsel shifted their styles of examination to tailor to the individual in question.
The final days of the mini pupillage were taken up by highly detailed cross-examination of expert medical witnesses, many of whom had provided initial autopsy or injury reports. This was particularly interesting in a logistical context, and raised many important issues with funding, timing, and expert evidence in UK criminal trials. It proved very difficult for the defence and prosecution to agree on days on which their respective medical experts could be present for examination, and in the end only partial compromises could be reached, with some medical evidence appearing later in the trial. This period of cross-examination taught me the importance of dealing with expert witnesses sensitively. Counsel for the second defendant questioned an esteemed expert on bone pathology in a particularly abrasive and personal manner, leaving him frustrated and ill-disposed to further questions. Conversely, the prosecution and counsel for the first defendant took a much more conciliatory approach and were able to extract far more useful evidence from their period of examination.
Overall, I found the experience highly motivating. It helped to solidify my ambition to go to the bar, especially the criminal bar. The variety of evidence, dynamism of advocacy, significance of the trial in question, and important role the barristers involved had in upholding the rule of law and ensuring proper legal proceedings appealed deeply to me.
Following my mini pupillage, I incorporated discussions I had with Lucy Organ on current issues in the criminal justice system into an article I have forthcoming in the Pembroke College Law Journal. Building on the experience gained in my LEAP-funded mini pupillage, I have accepted offers for further mini pupillages at 5KBW, Furnival Chambers, and Queen Elizabeth Buildings, Hollis Whiteman, all top tier London sets. I have also accepted a winter work experience placement at DAC Beachcroft. Ultimately, I plan to apply for a Lincoln’s Inn GDL scholarship following completion of my historical studies. Without the initial support and guidance I received from LEAP, this process would have been far more difficult.
