There are good reasons to consider practice at the Chancery Bar in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle. We all know we have to work hard. Our burden becomes our benefit if the work is interesting and fun. The hundred plus members of the Northern Chancery Bar Association have jobs which are interesting and for the most part fun, though there will always be the odd case which is the nightmare exception to the rule. Chancery work traditionally was in the fields of real property, trust and tax. In the North there were small specialist bars at the Palatine Courts of Lancaster and Durham. Chancery work now embraces a broader spectrum, a major part of which is company, partnership and commercial litigation. There are Chancery Chambers or groups within chambers, in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, practising principally in the High Court Chancery District Registries in those cities, and in the Northern County Courts, and of course on appeal from those courts. The resolution of disputes can involve appearance before mediators as well as judges. The work involves advocacy and advice, both with the aim of reasoned and reasonable resolution of the clients' problems. The necessary skills involve sound learning and forensic ability, and a sense of humour helps. The learning of those in general Chancery practice ranges over a wide field from agriculture to wills, through, for example, contract, companies, fraud, insolvency, intellectual property, landlord and tenant, nuisance, partnership, professional negligence, real property and tax. The forensic skills have to adapt to deal with correspondence, conferences, informal arbitration, mediation, interim applications and trials varying from construction of documents to fraud, and equally with lay or expert witnesses and specialist and non-specialist tribunals, whether beneath a palm tree or in the appellate courts. There are advantages to provincial city practice. Pupillages still tend to be 'with a view'. Chambers are friendly and the learning is readily shared. There remain strong circuit loyalties, Chancery practitioners taking seriously their membership, as the case may be, of the North and North Eastern Circuit. Each northern city and its surrounding area has much to offer, such as property prices which tend to be cheaper than the South East. A perception that provincial practice might in some sense be less rigorous than that in London is misplaced. The 'local' bars are in competition with the bar nationwide and a 'local' barrister will only succeed by ability that compares with the best. The Northern Chancery Bar Association has two principal functions. Firstly, it is a voice to express members' views on matters of law and practice whether to the Bar Council, Law Commission or other Government body or inquiry. Secondly, it performs a continuing educational role, holding regular lectures and workshops on matters of legal moment. Anthony Elleray QC: Chairman of Northern Chancery Bar Association Northern Chancery Bar AssociationSt James' Chambers 68 Quay Street Manchester M3 3EJ Tel: 0161 834 7000 |
