In this episode of Bar Student to Barrister we hear from Sam Grimley, ICCA Bar Course graduate, called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 2025 and now a tenant at One Essex Court, a pre-eminent commercial set of barristers’ chambers in London, and The Lawyer Chambers of the Year 2025.
Sam had a very successful career in the music industry as a guitarist and keyboard player. In fact, he knew from the age of 6 that music was for him. He was a session musician at Ronnie Scott’s and worked with many artists including TomJones, Ed Sheeran and Jessie J.
As so often happens in life, he ultimately followed adifferent path which took him to the Bar, including taking a GDL, a BCL at the University of Oxford, completing the ICCA Bar Course and then pupillage, followed by tenancy, at One Essex Court.
Sam is now a barrister specialising in commercial, competition and intellectual property litigation, with a particular interest in media and entertainment disputes.
“… I’ve come from a completely different world. I mean aboutfive years ago I had never even heard of this world. So to be right in the beating heart of it now feels very strange, but I’m also utterly delighted.”
“… it’s doing a good job at whatever you're given and being personable and a good member of a team that really helps anyone in any industry.”
“ … get as much tailored advice as you can on your own performance, on your own strengths and weaknesses and take that on board, and try and improve off the back of it.”
“I'd say the headline thing that I had to learn was the importance of clarity and actually simplicity.”
“There is something extra that you get from an intense training process that is actually the product of the intensity. And the thing you get is confidence.”
And as Sam says, “Go for the run!” Listen on for exactlywhat this means.
This is Sam’s story to the Intellectual Property Bar.
Please follow/subscribe and we look forward to seeing youagain next Friday, with yet more helpful information and personal accounts to help and guide you on your journey to the Bar.
INFORMATION
Sam on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-grimley-47105224/
One Essex Court https://www.oeclaw.co.uk/
Sam’s Chambers’ website profile https://www.oeclaw.co.uk/barristers/profile/sam-grimley
The Pop Star and the Prophet (BBC Sounds) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b069xcys
CONTACT
Email: barstudent2barristerpodcast@gmail.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iccabar/
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/school/the-inns-of-court-college-of-advocacy/
Website https://www.icca.ac.uk/icca-bar-course/bar-student-to-barrister-podcast/
INDEPENDENCE
Registration on the ICCA Bar Course confers no advantage inrelation to Inns’ scholarships or awards, Inns’ membership, Qualifying Sessions or Call to the Bar. For more information see the Policyon Independence between the Inns of Court and the ICCA.
COPYRIGHT
Inns of Court Collegeof Advocacy (part of the COIC) © 2025. All rights reserved.
Welcome to Episode 3 of Bar Student to Barrister. In this week’s episode we have something special, a presentation given to ICCA Bar Course students on 13 October 2025, entitled ‘Failing Forwards - Building Resilience for a Career at the Bar of England & Wales’
In this episode you will hear from three professionals with fascinating insights into what resilience really means on your journey to the Bar.
Tony Charles is the Director of Education at Gray’s Inn, a senior leader with a broad range of experience across all aspects ofeducation and training.
Saara Idelbi is a barrister at 39 Essex Chambers, a legal professional, strategic advisor, and effective advocate recognised by Legal 500 as a ‘Leading Junior’ in the areas of Administrative Law and Human Rights, Court ofProtection and Community Care, and Inquests and Inquiries.
John-Paul Fitzgibbon is a Criminal and Public International LawBarrister, Naval Officer and Commander.
Three quotes from Tony Charles perhaps best set the scene for what you are about to hear::
“Failure and resilience are inextricably linked and frequentlymisunderstood.”
“Failure, success, learning and resilience are all part of the sameequation and that’s really what we are going to focus on today.”
“The setbacks are not interruptions to success, they are part of its fabric.”
As Tony also says, ‘“Our message today is a positive one about the journey you are on and it’s a positive one about the journey ahead.”
We hope you enjoy this episode, and a huge thank you to Tony, Saara and John Paul for giving their time to provide such invaluable insights.
Please follow/subscribe and we look forward to seeing you again next Friday, with yet more helpful information and personal accounts to help and guide you on your journey to the Bar.
INFORMATION
Tony Charles - LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-charles-7a8bb383/
Saara Idelbi - LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/saara-idelbi/
John-Paul Fitzgibbon - LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpaulf/
39 Essex Chambers https://www.39essex.com/
Advocatr https://advocatr.com/
What I learned from 100 days of rejection (Ted Talks) https://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection
CONTACT
Email: barstudent2barristerpodcast@gmail.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iccabar/
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/school/the-inns-of-court-college-of-advocacy/
Website https://www.icca.ac.uk/icca-bar-course/bar-student-to-barrister-podcast/
INDEPENDENCE
Registration on the ICCA Bar Course confers no advantage in relation to Inns’ scholarships or awards, Inns’ membership, Qualifying Sessions or Call to the Bar. For more information see the Policy on Independence between the Inns of Court and the ICCA.
COPYRIGHT
Inns of Court College of Advocacy (part of the COIC) © 2025. All rights reserved.
Welcome to Episode 2 of Bar Student to Barrister. In this week’s episode we meet Gaurav Sachanandani, now in his early years of practice at Burnell Chambers, situated on Middle Temple Lane in London.
From starting his law degree at the age of 17, we follow Gaurav through Bar training, pupillage and into his early years as a specialist tax barrister, and even why studying does not always stop when you embark on full-time professional practice.
And what else do we discover on the way?
First, Gaurav dreamed of becoming an astronomer before even thinking about the law.
And what excited his interest in becoming a lawyer? For that you’ll have to listen, but it’s something we suspect you’ll hear more than a few times in this podcast series, at least from those who are prepared to admit it.
The complexity and intellectual challenge of tax law, and the ambition to build his practice as a respected expert, is perhaps at the heart of what drives Gaurav, but you will also discover that he is positive, enthusiastic, committed, determined, and no stranger to hard work.
And why is ‘cracking the code’ used in the title of this episode? Again, you can find out before too long, but it’s something that Gaurav has been doing in multiple ways as he has pursued his ambition to become a barrister.
In this episode you will also hear how Gaurav approached applying for pupillage to specialist tax and chancery chambers, what written exercises he was asked to carry out, and what happened during the interview process.
There is also a cautionary tale for all prospective barristers – what might happen at the end of a pupillage interview when you are asked if you have any questions? Beware the danger zone! But as we find out, sometimes things happen for a reason.
Gaurav also tells us what happens when you arrive on Day 1 of pupillage in a tax chambers, as well as how to cope when technical failure greets you in your pupillage professional ethics exam.
And finally, even though he is a practising barrister, does Gaurav own a wig and gown? Find out in this episode.
This is Gaurav’s journey to the specialist tax Bar. We hope you enjoy this episode. Please follow/subscribe on your podcast platform for future episodes.
INFORMATION
Burnell Chambers https://burnellchambers.co.uk/
Gaurav’s profile https://burnellchambers.co.uk/barristers/gaurav-sachanandani/
Gaurav on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurav-sachanandani-73394a230/
CONTACT
Email: barstudent2barristerpodcast@gmail.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iccabar/
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/school/the-inns-of-court-college-of-advocacy/
Website https://www.icca.ac.uk/icca-bar-course/bar-student-to-barrister-podcast/
INDEPENDENCE
Registration on the ICCA Bar Course confers no advantage inrelation to Inns’ scholarships or awards, Inns’ membership, Qualifying Sessions or Call to the Bar. For more information see the Policy on Independence between the Inns of Court and the ICCA.
COPYRIGHT
Inns of Court College of Advocacy (part of the COIC) © 2025. All rights reserved.
Inns of Court College ofAdvocacy (part of the COIC) © 2025. All rights reserved.
Welcome to Episode 1 of Bar Student to Barrister.
In our first episode we meet Jody Klaire, just starting pupillage in chambers specialising in criminal law, and we’ll hear more about her pupillage experience in coming episodes.
How do you become a barrister?
“In 2020 I went blind and deaf and I thought, ‘oh why not,I'll just become a barrister.’”
Jody tells us all about her unique path to the Bar, from themusic industry and the police force, and as a writer, teacher and EDI trainer, towards criminal practice. She explains how her legal career was shaped whilst also confronting her own disabilities, as well as how many people inspired and helped her along the way.
In this podcast we want to demystify the Bar and trainingfor the Bar, so we start at the beginning and explore Bar training.
Jody also lets us know what attracted her from an interestin the law of trusts to a life of crime (as a field of specialist practice of course) and we find out what module Jody took at university, “just for fun!”
In this episode, Jody raises some serious issues concerningtraining for the Bar with a disability. These matters have not been pushed to one side and will receive the full attention they deserve in the future. In fact, much of what you have heard in outline will be explored in far more detail in later episodes.
Thank you for joining us this week. Please follow/subscribeon your podcast platform for future episodes.
INFORMATION
The Inns of Court are:
Middle Temple https://www.middletemple.org.uk/Inner Temple https://www.innertemple.org.uk/Gray’s Inn https://www.graysinn.org.uk/Lincoln’s Inn https://www.lincolnsinn.org.uk/
All of the Inns offer mentoring schemes and scholarships forBar and GDL (law conversion course) students.
More information on becoming a barrister:
Becoming a Barrister – Bar Council https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/becoming-a-barrister.htmlUnderstanding Bar Training – Student Guide – by ChrisKessling https://www.icca.ac.uk/icca-bar-course/understanding-bar-training/Bar Council Pupillage Fair 2025 https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/training-events/calendar/pupillage-fair-2025.htmlPupillage Fair North 2025 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pupillage-fair-north-tickets-990293563707
Information on funding:
Master’s Degree loans https://www.gov.uk/masters-loan
Funding and Scholarships – Bar Council https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/becoming-a-barrister/i-am-a-university-student-or-graduate/student-funding-and-scholarships.html
ICCA Bar Training Bursaries https://www.icca.ac.uk/icca-bar-course/fees-and-funding/bursaries/
Other organisations mentioned in this episode:
Bridging the Bar https://bridgingthebar.org/
Bringing [Dis]Ability to the Bar https://www.bdabar.org/
Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA Bar Course) https://www.icca.ac.uk/icca-bar-course/School Exclusion Project https://www.schoolexclusionproject.com/
Documents referred to:
Bar Qualification Manual – Bar Standards Board (BSB) (SeePart 2 Academic Component for the Foundation of Legal Knowledge subjects
https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/training-qualification/bar-qualification-manual-new.html
CONTACT
Email barstudent2barristerpodcast@gmail.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iccabar/
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/school/the-inns-of-court-college-of-advocacy/
Website https://www.icca.ac.uk/icca-bar-course/bar-student-to-barrister-podcast/
INDEPENDENCE
Registration on the ICCA Bar Course confers no advantage inrelation to Inns’ scholarships or awards, Inns’ membership, Qualifying Sessions or Call to the Bar. For more information see the Policy on Independence between the Inns of Court andthe ICCA.
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Inns of Court College of Advocacy (part of the COIC). All rights reserved.
How do you become a barrister?
How do you train for the Bar?
How do you apply for and secure pupillage?
How do you develop a specialist legal practice?
Welcome to from Bar Student to Barrister, the podcast on your journey into pupillage and beyond into the early years of practice at the Bar.
In this podcast you will be hearing from many people who can tell you exactly what it feels like and looks like to become a barrister, to go through your training, including what is usually one year of pupillage, and then enter those early years of professional practice.
The barristers’ profession, as well as training to become a barrister, can seem just a tad confusing at times, but as we move through the many episodes that follow, you will get to hear from many Bar students, from pupils and from practising barristers who will demystify the whole show. And if you have questions, just get in touch with us and we’d be delighted to provide answers.
With Chris Kessling, barrister and Vice Dean of the Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA), and Jody Klaire, ICCA Bar Course graduate, called to the Bar in 2025, and just starting pupillage! And a whole host of wonderful guests.
Published weekly on Fridays, starting Friday 17 October 2025.