2000s

Katie Szewczyk – Deputy Senior Clerk, Fountain Court Chambers

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I knew absolutely nothing about being a clerk and very little about barristers before I started work in 2001 at what was then No 1 Serjeants Inn (now Deka Chambers). I wanted to leave college without going to university and saw a job advert in the Evening Standard. I thought that I would try this while I worked out what I was actually going to do. 20 odd years later I’m still doing it! It turned out that clerking is a wonderful career to have fallen in to.  

I’ve never experienced any negative attitudes from members of chambers due to being female – not to my face anyway! No 1 Serjeants Inn was a great place to learn. When I started I was the only female clerk in chambers. I have however had more than one occasion where I have picked up a call from a client who has then asked to speak to one of the clerks and I have had to convince them that I am a clerk and not the receptionist. Thankfully those days are behind us. The only time I’ve felt that my gender has been an issue was when I was offered a job at a previous set of chambers and was told by a male clerk who worked at a different set that I had only got it was because they need to increase the diversity of their team. I don’t think that it has registered that a female could have just been the best candidate.

In the early 2000s when I started, the iPod had just been released, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were married, and the first Harry Potter movie was in the cinema.  In chambers, most communication was done by phone or fax. The use of email had just started, but wasn’t commonly used, certainly in chambers anyway. A couple of the barristers didn’t even have computers. They would either write everything by hand or use a Dictaphone and their work would then be sent to an offsite typist who would type it and fax back.

When I first started as a junior clerk, I would be greeted in the morning by a massive pile of DX which needed to be entered on to our computer system (most of the briefs were wrapped in pink tape in those days!).It would then be a court run, perhaps followed by attending court for a fixing appointment, as well as answering a constantly ringing phone and manning a temperamental fax machine. The afternoon would be spent dealing with new case enquiries and calling County Courts to get listings for the following day as it was before the days of lists being published online.

There were also a large number of members of chambers who didn’t have mobile phones. There’s probably an argument to say that they had a better work life balance than barristers do now when they are expected to be on call 24/7, but it did lead to some comical and creative situations when we would have to try to get a message to a junior on train on their way to Truro or Haverford West County Court to let them know that their case had just settled and they should turn back.

There was no monitoring of the fair allocation of work. It simply wasn’t considered. Now it is one of the primary roles of clerking. At Fountain Court, we go a lot further than just monitoring the figures. There is a huge amount of interrogation done. In addition, we also monitor BD and marketing opportunities to ensure everyone gets a fair shot at creating new or fostering existing relationships with clients.

Whilst I haven’t really experienced sexism, the clerking profession felt, and indeed was, very male orientated when I first started. It didn’t feel like there were any senior female role models. The female senior clerks or CEOs that I did meet had come into the profession from a different route, often by being a solicitor first or working in a law firm. Whilst there was some female junior clerks, progression and retention was a big issue. Often females would move into marketing or being a fees clerk as life as a clerk was seen as incompatible with having a family. Thankfully that has changed, and there are now a good number of females in senior positions who have risen up the ranks from junior clerks, including both Deputy Senior Clerk here at Fountain Court. I’m hopeful that having senior women in chambers will benefit younger female clerks.

We now have more female junior clerks than males. This has been achieved by a implementing a number of techniques to ensure fairness in the recruitment process. Including a blind review of CVs, ensuring that there is a diverse interview panel, and fairness training for anyone who is involved with the recruitment process. Things that seem very obvious now, but weren’t really consider when I started.

Recruitment and retention rates of barristers has also improved massively. When I first started at Fountain Court 13 years ago, there was one female silk. Now there are nine. We actively seek to make it easier for members to come back to work after having parental leave and provide a 6 month rent free period for primary careers.

I feel that the increase in working from home and flexible working following lockdown has helped massively with the work life balance, not just for females but for all clerks, and this has helped with retention. Most of our clients are only in the office 3 days a week, so it seems outdated to insist that clerks are in the office 5 days a week. That said, there is, of course, a balance to strike. Being in chambers can offer valuable learning opportunities, and not just for more junior clerks. I still learn things from colleagues all of the time. There is also the bonding experience that comes from seeing people face to face. I really miss in-person fixing appointments which are now done over Teams instead, which removes the opportunity to see clerking colleagues and listing staff face to face and to build the bonds that are so important in this job.

In chambers, we are trying to create more opportunities for in person meetings. So much of a clerk’s job is ensuring that members feel supported to enable them to thrive in their legal career. This needs to be built on a basis of trust and understanding which can be much harder to buildup if you don’t see each other in person regularly.

After 20 plus years I still enjoy coming to work and being a clerk. Every day is different, and I am pleased to be part of a profession that continues to evolve to support the Bar.  

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In the next edition  of  will share her experiences of becoming a clerk in the 2010s.