After the publication in these pages of my earlier write-up on the prospects of studying English Law in Bangladesh, I have received some very interesting questions regarding the profession of a barrister. Therefore, I have decided to use this same platform to convey my answers.
Are we even allowed to use the title “barrister?”
The answer is yes, we surely can but if using it without a practicing licence, then we must do so with caution to avoid the possibility of conveying misleading information regarding our professional capacity as a lawyer.
Why spend so much on a postgraduate diploma when I could get a foreign LLM degree more affordably?
Bar Professional Training Course is a professional qualification and should not be confused with an academic degree. Comparing it with an LLM is like comparing a cat with an apple, ie, “why buy a cat spending so much money when you can get an apple a lot cheaper.”
Each has its own value. If we intend to pursue a career as a law tutor, then LLM is surely a better option but if thinking of practicing then the one that offers training to develop professional legal skills seems the obvious choice.
Was it worth spending this much to achieve this title when we have to go through the same bar council advocacy exam to get a practicing licence like any other Bangladeshi law graduate?
Thanks to the internationally recognized professional training, clients (be it an individual or a multinational company) generally feel less hesitant trusting and investing their money on barristers. Therefore, the title, in conjunction with a practicing licence, definitely comes with a practical benefit.
In Bangladesh, law graduates are generally required to develop practical legal skills such as client handling, case management, chief and cross-examination techniques, and court procedures. In such situations, being able to acquire these skills through a globally recognized training is definitely a less time consuming process.
What is the passing rate of barristers in Bangladesh’s advocacy exam?
Bangladeshi law graduates sit for this exam after learning the municipal law for four long years, while barristers are required to learn these overnight because, for all those years they were busy focusing on English Law.
Therefore, it is impractical to claim that they can all clear the exam in the first attempt. However, those who do, in fact, manage to fulfill this tough task of doing it at the first go are indeed hardworking people and are deserving of respect for having cleared the bar exam of two different legal systems at such an early age.
Aren't lawyers in Australia called barristers and the ones in the UK called solicitors?
Lawyers in Australia are also called barristers but the value of both titles are not the same. The training English barristers receive is more acknowledged at the international stage. Solicitors on the other hand are also lawyers but are the ones without a right to submit in English courts.
In the UK, when clients bring a case, it is the solicitor who opines based on its merits, whether to take it to a barrister for further legal proceedings or go for an out of court settlement. If it does have a good prospect in litigation, only then do barristers come in the scene because they are the ones who get to make a submission in a court of law. the best way to resolve things in a manner where everyone comes out satisfied, is to see things from a perspective other than your own. Everyone has a private battle they're fighting, and it is important to recognise that and factor it into the situation. Is the new intern under-performing because he's lazy, or because he's juggling school and the job? Is the part-timer chronically late out of a lack of responsibility, or because the commute is crazy and she doesn't have access to transport? Understanding these underlying issues should help make it easier to brainstorm viable solutions to the problems instead of leading to fights.
Collected from Dhaka Tribune
