12
WORK
LIF E
9 3
A�ONE-DAY�DIARY��
FROM�MORNING�LATTE
TO�LIGHTS�OUT
Abbe Arnold,
criminal
barrister
Abbe Arnold, 33, is a barrister at
Farringdon Chambers. She lives in
London with her partner Tim, 32,
also a barrister. They are expecting
their first child in March
The BBC news is the first thing I
flick on when I get up at 7.30am.
I put on Clinique eyeshadow and
mascara, and a suit. I’ve got a couple
that are tailor-made, the rest are
from Hobbs and Jigsaw. It’s getting
harder to dress for work because
I’m five months pregnant.
Even though law is a male
dominated world my bump hasn’t
caused too many problems. On a
practical level it’s tricky because
I have to carry my Archfold (a
brick of a book full of case laws)
everywhere. I’ve had to resort to
lugging it around in a trolley!
I don’t get any maternity pay, apart
from the government entitlement.
That’s why a lot of female barristers
put off having children until later in
life. The reality is that I’ll have to go
����WWW�STYLIST�CO�UK
6
PARKY: THE
PINNACLE
OF COOL
back to work after three to six
months. I can’t afford not to.
I’m a specialist in trial advocacy
so I defend or prosecute people
when matters go to court, either for
petty crimes or bigger GBH, abuse or
burglary charges. I mainly practise
in central London but I can be
called to any court in the country.
I arrive at court around 9am,
see my client in the cells, speak to
the prosecution and make sure all
the witnesses are there. Surprisingly,
criminals tend to be a well-behaved
CRIMINAL BARRISTER ABBE
SAYS YOU HAVE TO BE
TOUGH TO GET RESULTS
and respectful bunch in a prison
environment. Most of my clients
are perfectly pleasant towards me,
regardless of how heinous their
crimes are. I never feel intimated,
but you do have to be a tough
person to get results.
A morning case is heard at 10.30am
“I don’t get any maternity
pay. That’s why a lot
of female barristers put
off having children”
MY�PLAN�B��TV�PRESENTER
and you can’t eat at all in court. I
normally grab a tuna sandwich from
Pret when we break for lunch. Every
day is totally different. Recently I
worked on a case at Isleworth Crown
Court defending a man charged with
grievous bodily harm on his very
young daughter. She’d been left
disabled as a result of his attacks.
He was appealing because the court
hadn’t previously been aware that
he was autistic. Unfortunately the
verdict remained ‘guilty’ and he
committed suicide in the dock by
swigging poison from a bottle.
It’s such a hard position because
I spoke to this person every day and
he always maintained how much he
loved his daughter, yet he committed
a totally hideous act. There are no
niceties to my job. We have to look
at all the material no matter how
upsetting it is and develop the ability
to deal with it on an analytical level.
Court closes at 4.30pm so I’ll go
back to Chambers and spend my
afternoon reviewing cases. Ninetynine
per cent of the time I work alone,
which I actually prefer. My office is
in an old converted warehouse and
is quite modern, all glass and chrome.
Most barristers in Chambers count
as self-employed. I pay Farringdon
Chambers ‘rent’ for being a part of
their organisation but I’ll get a rent
holiday when I have my baby. I finish
work at around 6pm and head home.
A lot of barristers (including me,
pre-pregnancy) hit the bottle after
a case. The Bank of England pub
on Fleet Street is popular, or the
Devereux in Temple. We have a few
drinks and regurgitate our day with
the people who have an understanding
of what it’s all about. Then my husband
Tim will usually take me out for
dinner. We love The Salt House near
our home in west Hampstead or I’ll
cook a Thai chicken curry for us both.
My job’s a constant challenge but I
thrive on it and it can be immensely
rewarding. When you get an innocent
person off or get someone who is
genuinely remorseful a lesser and fair
sentence, it’s really rewarding. You
come to realise that there is a bit of
bad in everybody but there is also a
bit of good in even the worst of people.
If I had to choose, I’d like to be Jonathan Ross or Parkinson as they both get to do serious interviews
and really challenge people. Not that I could ever be as cool as Parky – he’s the pinnacle. Or maybe
presenting something like Question Time where you get to interview and cross-examine people would
be fun and I’d get to use a similar skill set to the one I use as a barrister. Doing your research, constructing
a case, arguing your case and questioning the subject; it’s all related. Speaking in front of a live studio
audience can’t be much more nerve racking than presenting in front of a judge and jury, and I think it
would be fun to get to meet all those different people.
WORDS��AMY�GRIER��PHOTOGRAPHY��REX�FEATURES
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