Nigel Jones QC, barrister and head of chambers, Hardwicke Building

So much has changed since I came to the Bar in 1976 and yet so much has stayed the same. Then, having a business card was frowned on and offering one to anyone was considered touting and a breach of the Code of Conduct. We couldn’t advertise. Chambers with 16 members were considered large and professional management was unheard of. Virtually all pupillages were unpaid and pupil masters were still entitled to ask the pupil to pay £100!

Choosing a career as a barrister

So why on earth did I do it? I don’t know. I had decided to become a barrister when I was ten – no one knows why. There were no lawyers in my family and I had never met one. I managed to find a pupillage because our local vicar wrote to a barrister he had once met who passed me on to his ex-pupil. There were no application forms or committees, just a five-minute chat. Sure, I envied those whose dads were judges and whose uncles were heads of chambers but there was always room for a bit of determination. In 1978 I was one of nine barristers (highest call six years) who founded Hardwicke Building, now a professionally-run business with 70 members.