"Right BOB*, two pleas for you to deal with this morning. Should be simple, ones in custody and due in court at 9:30, and the other in the same court at 10". An easy £25 and extra experience thought I.
Ha, how wrong I was. I of course didn't factor in the trusty prison service and their own brand of time management. The client in question suffers from asthma and claustrophobia, so could not be transported in the usual prison van, commonly known as a "sweat box", so instead had to be brought by taxi to court.
You would expect the prison service to know this and have everything in place. Unfortunately they did not and the morning was spent with counsel and I repeatedly going up and down from the custody area to be told again that he had not arrived. This played havoc with trying to clerk the other case, but I managed.
It got to lunchtime and we then had to wait until 2 o'clock to go down and speak to the client who had finally arrived. However after all this ridiculousness the client did get a touch and only got a very small sentence considering the crime, and there is also the bonus of getting a full days money as well.
This weekend I moved my stuff into the house which will probably be my home for the next 2 years, and for the next two weeks I have a sexual assault trial to clerk, so that should be very interesting. Then the first week of September I have a mini pupillage with a chambers in London that specialises in Family and Landlord and Tenant/Housing/Land Law to look forward to.
* Some people have referred to me as BOB (Bar or Bust) so I thought I would try it out for size. If you want to leave a comment please feel free.
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