My first day at Matrix Chambers began with meeting the front of house team, Abbie and Liv, who gave me and my colleagues a warm and friendly welcome before Charlotte welcomed us with an induction and guided us on a tour upstairs to meet the different teams. My first task was a marketing exercise, where I reviewed the Matrix website and compared it with other chambers’ websites and looked at the different marketing strategies use to create an engaging website that reflects the crux of the chamber. I later met Elaine and Haarini who are both Billing Co-ordinators in the fees and finance team, and they explained the different types of fees such as Legal Aid, CFAs, private, public, and pro-bono. We were then given a fees task to research the history of Legal Aid and its different forms. We also met Lloyd in Team T, who introduced us to his team’s work on criminal, international, and ESG cases, while Elliot in Team X described his work with environmental and human rights cases and organising suitable barristers for specific cases to solicitors. Lastly, we met Dan and his team in LSS whose role is to provide legal research support and locate specific case law to barristers and produce authorities bundles for court.

My second and third day involved going to the Royal Courts of Justice where we watched a complex and high-profile judicial review case where Matrix members David Wolfe KC and Jim Robottom were representing the claimant. This experience was extremely vital to my development as an aspiring barrister as I got to witness how barrister’s work in practice, how they advocate for their client and interact with the judge, and how they refer to extensive numbers of case law and statute to strengthen their argument. What particularly surprised me was that the barrister’s rarely interacted with each other, rather the claimant side gave their argument, then the defendant side, and finally the claimant’s response to the defendant’s evidence.

On the final day, we began by having an induction with Donella in the LSS team who provided us with useful discussions on becoming a barrister and gave us an introduction into the UK legal System. We were then given a legal research task and introduced to Westlaw that gave us a taste on how the LSS team research and locate a case or statute for an authorities bundle or find academic articles to assist barristers. Before lunch, we had the pleasure of having coffee with two trainee barristers, Florence and Mannat, who talked to us about what it is like being a barrister and answered our questions. We had a riveting discussion on cronyism and the racial and gendered prejudices/biases within the legal system which really highlighted the structural barriers within the legal system, though it is now gradually evolving to become more inclusive and equitable. I finished my day by carrying out my Future Lawyers meeting. Though I felt nervous at first, Alice and Abbie kept me at ease throughout the process.

Overall, my week at Matrix Chambers provided me with valuable insight into the life of a barrister and how they work in practice. I gained significant knowledge from watching the court case and speaking with the trainee barristers who spoke about their career journey and really strengthened my aspiration to become a barrister. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity and thank all the members of Matrix for making this a wonderful experience.