University of Bristol academic and practising Barrister, Professor Alan Bogg has enjoyed an accomplished and impactful career specialising in labour and employment law. We interviewed Alan about his life and journey to becoming a Barrister, how his work in the courtroom influences his teaching, and some top tips for anyone interested in qualifying at the Bar.
I regard my lectures as a shared exploration, so that we can push into the challenging questions together.
When and why did you decide to qualify at the Bar?
I had never qualified for legal practice. Following my completion of the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) and Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) at the University of Oxford, I had a short period as an academic at the University of Birmingham before taking up a Faculty position back in Oxford. During that period, my academic writing was more and more concerned with “black letter” legal problems rather than high theory.
Some landmark judgments had cited my work (for example, Autoclenz v Belcher on sham contracts). I had always found that to be an exciting experience, shaping the law and making it better.
I had also been involved as an academic consultant in some important litigation. Then, at 48 years of age, I decided that it would be exciting to be involved in writing (and signing) the skeleton arguments in court, rather than commenting on them. So, I sought my professional qualifications and completed a short pupillage at Old Square Chambers during a period of unpaid leave from the University.
What was it like to qualify later in life?
Interestingly, as a teacher of law, it was illuminating to be a student again. It gave me a sense of the kind of teaching that worked, and the kind of teaching that didn’t work.
I have always tried to be engaging and spontaneous as a teacher, academic content interwoven with comedic twists, and I did indeed find that this was the best way of ensuring that students stay engaged and awake. It was also a reminder of the challenges of sitting exams again! At the Advocacy Training weekend organised by my Inn I was in a group with someone I had once taught – after the first exercise in cross-examination, all of that was soon forgotten.
What are the similarities and differences between life at the Bar and life as a legal academic?
Much of the work I have done has been focused on developing legal arguments in the appellate courts, and there are strong similarities between “black letter” legal scholarship and legal argumentation in courts. Your task is to persuade a judge, and that requires a deep understanding of the relevant legal principles.
Of course, as a barrister, you don’t have the freedom to choose the best legal argument available. You are instructed by a client, and you must develop the best legal argument to win your client’s case. In trials, the focus is very strongly on the facts. The law is often not controversial. That is indeed how it should be.
A well-functioning legal system should provide relatively clear answers in most cases, otherwise it is not providing effective guidance to citizens. The importance of facts, not law, did require some adjustment (though the training I received at Old Square Chambers during pupillage was exceptionally good).
I have been lucky to have a varied professional life at Old Square.
I have been instructed at all levels from the European Court of Human Rights to the UK Supreme Court to the Bristol Employment Tribunal.
My academic background has meant that I have also been involved in advising on legislative changes and statutory drafting. I also appear regularly before parliamentary committees as an expert witness on issues such as human rights at work, the P&O Ferries mass dismissals, and the Employment Rights Bill.
Has being a Barrister helped you as an academic?
There is no doubt that qualifying as a Barrister has made me a better legal academic.
For example, when teaching the right to strike in the LLB Employment Law course, I was fortunate to be instructed by the union UNISON in one of the most important Supreme Court cases on employment law in the last 30 years (Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Mercer). There is no doubt that I can share insights with my Bristol students on Mercer having been “under the bonnet” of the case.
There are things that you begin to understand about the shape of the legal arguments in a case that it is difficult to grasp as an external commentator without professional legal training. I hope it is exciting for students to read cases where you are listed as counsel in the law report, or where the judge has cited your academic work.
What is your advice for a Bristol student looking to qualify at the Bar?
There are a number of things I emphasise to students.
- First, you must be prepared for the volume of reading and the tight time frames. These time limits are serious, because in employment law there are often tight time frames for lodging claims at the tribunal and appeals. You could be presented with many thousands of pages of documents. It is your responsibility to work through those documents quickly, to work out what is relevant to the claim, and to have a mastery of the relevant law. Regardless of technological advancements, you remain accountable for the piece of work you’ve put your signature on.
- Second, take every opportunity to improve the clarity of your oral and written advocacy. Avoid jargon. Avoid big words if a simple word will suffice. Write in short sentences. Be generous to your reader/judge. Take the law and legal argumentation seriously. Read the cases, fully. My own guide If I cannot express an idea so that my teenage son might grasp it, the chances are that neither will my audience.
- Finally, demonstrate your commitment to the Bar by mooting, volunteering at the Law Clinic, and applying for mini pupillages. Having assisted with pupillage selection, the competition is fierce, but these are things you can do to improve your chances. And of course, a Bristol LLB is something to be proud of as you start the next part of your journey in the law.
Any final words of wisdom?
I have found life at the Bar has pushed me to my intellectual limits. It is important to learn to be comfortable with that. Indeed, to welcome it. When students come to me to say that employment law is difficult, I say, yes, it is, and isn’t that wonderful? I also find it difficult.
Your answers may not be my answers. That pluralism is a gift. And the day that it becomes easy, when I feel like I know all the answers, that will be the day I give it up and retrain to do something else.
The other thing I would emphasise is never listen to anyone who advises you to “stay in your lane” or “know your place”. I was brought up in the North West in the 1980s by my mum, free school dinners and a school uniform grant. She cleaned and then worked as a carer. There wasn’t much spare money, I can tell you. Perhaps that inspired my love of employment law.
My mum taught me not to know my place, that we were good enough to do anything, and to look anyone in the eye with a sense of pride and worth.
I have always carried that with me, and I pass that on when I encounter anyone from my background.
More about Alan
Previously a Professor of Labour Law at the University of Oxford, he has published widely across a 20-year academic career. His academic work has been cited with approval in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, Court of Appeal, United Kingdom Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Canada, European Court of Justice, and in other appeal courts in commonwealth jurisdictions.
He is a Barrister at Old Square Chambers, and a Deputy Chair at the Central Arbitration Committee (an adjudicative body that decides certain issues of collective labour law). He was awarded the Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship in 2010, and the Philip Leverhulme Prize for Outstanding Research in 2014. He retains an Emeritus Fellowship at Hertford College, Oxford and a Visting Professorship in the Oxford Law Faculty.