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The difference a support network can make to aspiring barristers
Support networks both in and outside of the profession can make all the difference to the exam stresses, workplace pressures and financial burdens behind the pathway to barrister. Expanding on how resilience shaped her career, a new barrister shared with Protégé the important role that other people played in getting her to the bar.
Naomi Neilson
In an honest conversation with The Protégé Podcast, new barrister Emma Fitzgerald shared how resilience saw her through personal and professional struggles all the way through her journey to becoming a barrister. Behind her own resilience, she shared that support networks and an “accountability buddy” were a major factor and something she hopes future aspiring barristers consider for their own careers.
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During the episode, Ms Fitzgerald shared that after failing her first attempt at the bar exam, she turned to another hopeful barrister and, through their “informal study group”, both passed and both moved together into the next course. This friendship, Ms Fitzgerald shared, was her first look into the difference support networks make.
“Obviously we both put in an extraordinary amount of work, but it was almost like having an accountability buddy. Somebody who says to you, ‘Hey, I’m going to be studying at this time’, and it just helps you focus,” Ms Fitzgerald said. “Charlotte and I could chat, discuss and challenge each other… and I think we could come into the course with a heightened understanding of the rules because we were challenged.”
After learning the value of a support group, Ms Fitzgerald said she turned to sharing a lot of details about the path to barrister with others, particularly over LinkedIn. This continued throughout the bar course and, as she learnt more about what it really meant to study and manage this new career pathway, she passed it all on. She shared all of this advice and more with Protégé in one of its most recent episodes.
Now, people continue to reach out to Ms Fitzgerald “all the time”, and she strongly recommends that each of them – and all aspiring barristers – are connecting with others who are currently doing the bar exams to find that same support she had with Charlotte. At the same time, they should be learning as much as they can behind the “great mystery” that is the truth of the bar, including exams and financial burdens.
Some of this support could even be found in the workplace, depending on its culture. For some, it can be a challenge because “people don’t want to talk about the journey to the bar” due to a fear of being “too open” about aspirations. For Ms Fitzgerald, she was at a great firm with a managing partner who was “hugely supportive”.
“The [main thing I would recommend is] planning to build your support network… I think it’s those human connections that we make which really have the ability to create the biggest change and forge your future successes,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
For more from Emma Fitzgerald on her journey to the bar and how aspiring barristers should prepare themselves, have a listen to the episode here.
