Red bags and chambers tea: a day in the life of a barristers’ clerk

06 February 2012

Emma Barraclough, London

Sue Harding is the senior clerk at Hogarth Chambers, a set of barristers in London that specialises in IP and chancery work. She tells Emma Barraclough what it’s like to help a group of self-employed advocates manage their business

I come to work on the central line from the east end of London, which is fine when the underground is running well but it isn’t always. Once I’m here though the chambers are a lovely place to work – we are in a beautiful square of old buildings next to Lincoln’s Inn. We are lucky to be in a building that was recently refurbished so it’s quite modern compared to some other chambers here. Unfortunately, though, we don’t have a lift even though the building has four floors. That makes life a bit difficult for the junior clerks who have to carry a lot of files up and down and then over to court.

There are five clerks here including me. It’s quite hierarchical: I’m the senior clerk, then there’s a deputy, a third clerk and two juniors, plus an administrator. But we all...

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