Leonie James’ journey from Varsity to the Bar
Vienna Kwan sits down with Leonie James to discuss her career as family law barrister

When Leonie James was at Clare College studying law, she dabbled in “bits and bobs of lots of things,” including writing for Varsity and the Tab. Her last article for Varsity was a review of Magdalene May Ball, published in June 2011. After graduation, James pursued a career in law. She is now a family law barrister at 1 King’s Bench Walk Chambers.
Do you think the Cambridge law course helped push you in the right career direction?
Yes, in the sense that I do family law explicitly now. I had a really amazing family teacher when I did family in Cambridge, and it was pretty much from that point that I decided that what I wanted to do was family.
Were you ever discouraged from going into family law, given it is known for its emotional intensity?
I think people definitely are right in that it is emotionally intense. Being a barrister in general, it is obviously quite a stressful job at times and family, in particular, deals with people who are going through quite a lot. So, in that respect, it obviously is quite a difficult job, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily an emotional job all the time because, frankly, you can’t get involved in all of the stories. You need to be able to have that distance to be a good lawyer.
You were also a solicitor before you became a barrister. How does that happen?
I did a really wiggly route to the Bar, so I did a training contract first. I wanted to do family law and thought about both options, and being a solicitor seemed more stable. At the time I thought, I kind of know why I want to do family, and I’ll probably be happy doing this. I realised pretty quickly that actually, what I want to be doing is to be in court. I qualified as a solicitor, but then I moved straight to the Law Commission to work as a research assistant, and then went to the Bar.
“There are very little jobs like it, where you can sit with one of the judges in the Supreme Court and see things behind the stage”
Tell me about your experience as a judicial assistant in the Supreme Court after you qualified as a barrister
That was honestly just such a unique experience. There are very little jobs like it, where you can sit with one of the judges in the Supreme Court and see things behind the stage.
How do you think the stress you experience now compares with the stress you felt as a student here?
Extremely different. We tend to have busy periods and quieter periods, so maybe that’s a good analogy. If you’re really busy, if you’ve got a final hearing, you’ll be working like in finals, and then randomly the next month, you might have a quiet period, but then you get to enjoy the time when you’re less busy.
How do you think the version of you who was writing for Varsity would react if she saw where you were now?
I hope she’d be happy, because I feel like I’m really happy where I am. I think she would be pleased, maybe a bit surprised, maybe not. When I was in university, I remember thinking: will I be a journalist, will I go into writing or will I go into law? What am I going to do and what will that look like? So, I think I would probably be pleased.
What is your advice for students who may think that it is necessary to secure a job offer by the time they graduate?
I don’t think we should all be funnelled into the same path. The corporate path is the right path for some people, and that’s why these jobs exist. If you’ve got a hankering to go into human rights, don’t you think you’re going to be really disappointed with this all in 10 years time if you take another job that you weren’t really sure of? There are lots of different ways to make a living, and I think it’s perfectly fine to try out different options before figuring out what you want to get into.
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