Christian I. Bale
2023 Temple Bar Scholar
As a Ph.D. student studying legal history, I applied for a Temple Bar Scholarship to tour “Legal London,” the home of the English legal profession since the Middle Ages, and to learn more about the four historic Inns of Court. What I failed to appreciate at the time was that, in addition to those educational opportunities, it offers a backstage pass to the very highest levels of the British bench and bar and the opportunity to make incredible friendships.
The four-week program began with a service at Westminster Abbey to mark the official opening of the legal year, followed by a reception welcoming the Temple Bar and Pegasus scholars to London. Over the next several days, we received a crash course in English law from preeminent lawyers and jurists. We met with the presidents of the Bar Council and the Law Society of England and Wales, the Chancellor of the High Court, the Master of the Rolls (President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal), the President of the Supreme Court, and, just a day after her historic swearing in as the first woman to lead the judiciary, the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales. Our distinguished hosts answered all our questions, no matter how basic, with patience and kindness.
Early on, we learned that a fundamental difference between the practice of law in England and the United States is that the UK system features a split legal profession between solicitors and barristers. Whereas, generally speaking, solicitors interface with clients, work in law firms, but do not appear in court, barristers are courtroom advocates who take their instructions from solicitors, and, although technically self-employed, work alongside other barristers in offices known as “chambers.” Although our program was barrister-centric, we spent an insightful afternoon with solicitors at Norton Rose Fulbright, who treated us to a delicious lunch and answered our questions about practicing law as a solicitor.
In between those tutorials, we toured: frozen-in-time squares and alleyways where many barristers’ chambers are located; the Royal Courts of Justice or “RCJ” (a Victorian building that houses the criminal appellate courts); the Rolls Building (the civil counterpart to the RCJ); the famous Old Bailey courthouse; the twelfth-century Temple Church, where we were hosted by the inimitable “Reverend and Valiant Master of the Temple”; and, of course, the four Inns of Court.
Our guides explained that from the fourteenth through nineteenth centuries, law students lived and studied law at the Inns, once collectively referred to as “The Third University of England.” The Inns still provide some post-university training for aspiring barristers who must affiliate with one of the four Inns to join the profession. Beyond their credentialing function, each Inn features an impressive dining hall and library, not to mention gardens, chapels, and learning facilities, which are open to all barristers. Because of their proximity to the barristers’ chambers and London’s major courts, the Inns are valuable forums for engagement among judges, lawyers, and students.
In the second and third weeks of the program, we were placed in barristers’ chambers for week-long mini-pupillages. I had the privilege of working at Fountain Court and Brick Court, two of the preeminent Magic Circle chambers. The barristers whom I shadowed ensured that I had a rich experience, exposing me to a range of commercial and public law matters, from a third-party duress issue in a contract dispute to navigating the new post-Brexit sanctions regime. Most days, we took our lunches at one of the Inns’ great halls, where we discussed ongoing cases and compared notes about practicing law in the United States and Great Britain. In the afternoons, I was transported back in time as I researched in the library of the Middle Temple, where many of America’s Founding Fathers studied law, including my fellow Delawareans John Dickenson and John McKean.
During my third week, I accepted an invitation from Justice Robin Knowles, a commercial judge on the High Court, to sit in with him for the start of a high-profile civil trial involving a conspiracy to bribe senior Mozambican government officials. After watching some of the nation’s leading trial barristers give their opening arguments, I had the opportunity to discuss the case and the parties’ oral arguments with Justice Knowles and his legal assistant. I was humbled by the amount of time that this busy judge and his assistant spent with their American visitor. During a month of overwhelmingly hospitality, that day stands out.
The program’s capstone was a week at the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, where each scholar was hosted by one of the justices. It was the privilege of a lifetime to shadow Lord Hodge, the vice president of the Supreme Court, and to work alongside the Court’s judicial assistants, who treated us like part of their crew. Among the highlights of that incredible week were sitting in on oral arguments, discussing the cases with the justices, participating in a meeting to determine which cases to hear on appeal, and attending Lord Hodge’s “hand down” of judgments. But most special of all, the justices hosted a dinner with the scholars, where we shared hours of wonderful conversation. That evening was bittersweet for the Temple Bar and Pegasus Scholars, as it marked an end to our truly remarkable month together. I have no doubt that the six of us will remain lifelong friends.
Instead of returning home with the other scholars, I accepted a generous invitation from Constance Whippman, the former head of chambers of 33 Bedford Row, to spend a few more days in London at her home. I could not have asked for a better end to the program. Constance and I hit it off immediately. We shared wonderful meals together discussing English and American law and culture, and we toured nearby Hampton Palace, where we attended a high church service in the chapel built by Cardinal Wolsey (a must see if you’ve read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel). Constance also arranged for me to shadow a colleague while he conducted an interview of an asylum applicant. I was grateful for the chance to see a very human dimension of the law after spending a month focused on trial and appellate advocacy.
I had no idea just how special the Temple Bar Scholarship was when I submitted my application. My hope is that this write-up encourages prospective applicants to apply and expresses my sincere gratitude to the sponsors of the Temple Bar Scholarship—the American Inns of Court and the Commercial Bar Association—and to our gracious British hosts, for the experience of a lifetime. I am especially grateful to the indefatigable Cindy Dennis for cultivating the relationships that make the Temple Bar Scholarship so rich, and for arranging the innumerable events that filled our four weeks in London. My legal practice will be better for all that I learned and all the people whom I met. Finally, I want to thank Judge Kent Jordan for sponsoring my application.