Imagine, you walk into a giant room–vaulted ceilings, oil paintings depicting centuries of pompousness staring dismissively down at you, and hardwood walls that have been polished until the silverware lining the tables gazes up at them with envy. And the tables! Tables stretching the length of the Hall, with dinner settings so perfectly spaced you’d swear they were laid out with chalklines. Everyone’s wearing a scholar’s robe and, if there’s an American in your group, in ten seconds they’ll declare dreamily, “It looks just like Harry Potter!” After dinner, a distinguished gentleman in a silk robe stands up and asks you how you would go about prosecuting Batman. (1)
Not pictured: Dumbledore
As I mentioned on the “About the Attorney” page, I took advantage of some study abroad opportunities while I was in law school. One of the coolest (in my ever-so-dorky opinion) things that we learned about (but didn’t actually get to do), were dinners at the Inns of Court in London.
Some background–there are presently four Inns of Court: Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, and the Inner Temple and Middle Temple Inns. In order to become a barrister in Britain–basically what we in the U.S. would call a trial lawyer, except that’s all they do–you have to be accepted at one of the Inns of Court, complete a course of study, and attend a number of dinners there. The format for dinners can vary widely. Sometimes there are guest speakers, or readings from legal publications of particular interest. Sometimes the students are assigned positions to debate on the fly, or quizzed by members of the bar on logic puzzles and pertinent legal issues.
It’s like drunken 3:00 AM conversations at Denny’s (there is a drink service beforehand), except instead of Denny’s, you’re in a dining hall that’s been hosting meals since Renaissance Festivals were called “Tuesday” (also, there’s no manager whinging about how you’ve taken up his best tables for three hours). And instead of all your weird friends, you’re talking with some of the most brilliant legal minds in the country–and if that doesn’t appeal to you, then you have no idea how twisted the minds of most lawyers are. Granted, you might not get to argue about which superpower would be coolest, but debating the free speech implications of strip clubs after half a bottle of wine is pretty entertaining too.
Granted, I’ve never actually been to a dinner at one of the Inns of Court (so, yes, I’m making up the Batman hypo–it would still make an excellent discussion). I’ve been in one of the Halls, but only while all the faculty and students were on winter holiday. (2) Nevertheless, I maintain that it’s an amazing idea.
So, this is my Inn of Court–Bradley’s Inn. There’s more than a little truth to the idea that almost every lawyer would eventually like to buy a bar and retire–because who doesn’t want to make money for drinking with their friends? But I’m still half-a-million dollars away from owning even a shitty bar. So instead, this is where I’ll sit around and talk about whatever legal stuff I decide entertains me (or gives me a suitable soapbox to rant from). I’ll probably stay sober, too–but I make no promises.
(1). OK, probably not Batman, because you’re in the UK. Possibly the dude from V for Vendetta?
(2). I did dine once or twice in the Hall of Hertford College in Oxford–again, while the usual residents were on holiday–and although none of us were wearing robes, every third sentence that night was a reference to Hogwarts. Since we were all U.S. students doing study abroad work, it took a while to sink in that for every school in England older than the lightbulb (pretty much all of them) this was normal.
About John Bradley