Ivy & Normanton Women

 "As many of you probably know, a long name is not unusual for those who have been named by Sri Lankan parents. I am certainly not an outlier. My full name is Mithurja Pathmanathan. What’s unusual about this name is not only that almost everyone, including those from Sri Lanka, choose to showcase their creativity when reading it, but that ‘Mithurja’ had no meaning. I used to envy my friends whose names had beautiful meanings or stories behind them. I used to hesitate to correct people. The worst of all mispronunciations was when my name used to be read out...

   I commenced my pupillage at the Chancery Bar in a common law chambers. Due to the lack of opportunities to wear my wig and gown I started to cover criminal cases  for my co-pupils.   I then worked as a criminal barrister (prosecuting and defending). On reflection, my only practice development strategy was to be grateful to my professional clients for whatever case they chose to instruct me upon. Five years before I became a Queen’s Counsel I realised my practice was varied and unfocused. I was unsure of what steps to take to remedy the situation.  Events crystallised...

"It was impossible not to enjoy the period of enforced holiday that the COVID-19 lockdown brought earlier this year. During my 8 years as a criminal barrister, having a work-life balance was a comically distant dream that I would promise myself, ‘as soon as I have finished this case’. I relished the opportunity to spend days reading, sleeping and eating my body weight in banana bread whilst sniggering at my husband who had to work from home. I was not at all gracious in celebrating my life of leisure. Lockdown gave us all an opportunity to take stock and make...

"They really don’t tell you that graduating amidst a pandemic is probably one of the most anticlimactic experiences you could have, but I knew that the biggest challenge of all was yet to come; that gruelling process of applying for pupillage. I told myself that I was just a baby doing her undergrad and this was just a practice round, an opportunity to give it my all but be realistic about my chances. After 16 applications to London criminal sets, and plucking up the courage to apply to my dream Chambers, the rejections began rolling in.   But then came...

"I have a child who I'd had before starting my BPTC and completed the course when she was very young. I was also living 200 miles away from my family and therefore no family based childcare to rely on. I have remained in the same area for pupillage. I was halfway through pupillage when lockdown started and so heading into my practising six months. The schools closed the week before lockdown and therefore I had to request from my clerk and supervisor (who are amazingly supportive) that I work from home before we knew the lockdown would start. I was...