upset-young-lawyer-lost-in preparing a barister's brief

The Secrets To Effectively Preparing A Barrister’s Brief

For graduate lawyers & paralegals – the secrets to effectively preparing a barrister’s brief

If you’ve recently started working in a law firm, maybe you’ve noticed that senior practitioners don’t give a second thought to asking junior lawyers and paralegals to prepare a barrister’s brief.

Have you been asked to do that yet?

Would you know how?

It’s one of those things that the seniors are so routine about that it can easily make you feel as though you should be able to do it.

But what if you’re new and haven’t ever had to prepare a brief?

The paralegal’s attempts to cover up concerns

Maybe you can relate to the nervous paralegal who confided in me that, when this happened to them, they didn’t have the first clue about what to do.

Even more than that, they weren’t even sure what a brief was.

Rather than asking for some guidance, their biggest focus was to hide their lack of knowledge from the senior lawyer.

They were really worried that, if they let on that they didn’t know what to do, the senior lawyer would ask someone else to do it instead.

So, rather than risk losing their chance of being the one selected to work on the file, they decided to cover up their concerns and instead resorted to secretly searching on-line to try and fill in the missing pieces.

Keeping all your worries to yourself like that is an awful feeling.

They were stressed, worried and anxious the whole time.

They were constantly asking the other paralegals and junior solicitors a whole bunch of half-questions to try and figure out what to do without revealing that they were completely in the dark

By the end, they managed to put together something pretty average which left everyone with the impression that they’re standards weren’t very high.

Which wasn’t a great outcome for them, and someone else got asked to do the next brief.

It’s easier when you follow a proven process

Even if you’ve never prepared a brief before, these sorts of situations are completely avoidable.

Because if you know the correct process to follow then you’ll be able to do it right.

After nearly 40 years as a lawyer, I’ve learnt that the process can be broke down into 5 easy-to-follow steps: that’s one for each letter of B.R.I.E.F.

B stands for ‘Begin with the Background’.

You’ll get yourself off to a great start, if you remember that, when you begin the briefing process, new lawyers often make the typical mistake of diving right into the middle of the matter.

Unfortunately, that’s never a good option, because it only leaves you (and your brief) in a big mess.

And a brief should never be messy.

It needs to be clear, coherent and structured.

Even though it’s tempting to immediately immerse yourself in the entire matter, if you want to prepare a high-quality brief then you first need to step back and get your background materials into order.

But it’s often the case that you’ll be confronted with an unorganised, disconnected mass of materials that make little sense and are virtually incomprehensible.

Despite first impressions, you don’t need to throw up your hands in despair and give in to overwhelm.

Instead, to undertake your brief preparation effectively, your first step is to create organisation out of chaos.

Because, until you’re clear about how all of this information fits together, then you’re not going to be able to sensibly articulate it for your barrister.

This requires you to carry out a preliminary overview of the background documents, materials and information.

It’s what I describe as an ‘at a glance’ exercise, since it’s only the bare bones that you want to concern yourself with for this first step.

That’s because, at this point, all you’re aiming to do is identify the general nature of the documents and sort them into a sequence or order that’s going to be the most helpful to you.There are some really efficient and straightforward ways for you to do this that will make your job much easier.

How to do your legal work more efficiently, effectively & professionally

To find out more about how to effectively prepare a barrister’s brief (even when you haven’t done it before), including a case study, examples to follow and straightforward tips and methods for getting all of your facts and information clearly organised, you’re invited to register in the NEW LAWYER ACCELERATOR PROGRAM.

It’s proving to be the ideal solution for junior lawyers & paralegals who want to learn essential practical skills so that you can do your legal work effectively & professionally.

So that you can see how it works, this post includes a bonus clip from Session 3 of the popular program module HOW TO PREPARE AN IMPRESSIVE BARRISTER’S BRIEF.

Along with a close up look at a sample brief, here’s how the module covers each of the 5 easy-to-follow steps in the B.R.I.E.F process.

SESSION 1- BRIEF BREAKDOWN

Find Out What’s Included in a Barrister’s Brief

If you’ve never worked in a law firm before, then you probably wouldn’t know what a brief was if you tripped over one. This session takes a close-up look at what a brief is, its component parts & how it all fits together.

SESSION 2– B-EGIN WITH THE BACKGROUND

Always Begin with The Background When You’re Preparing a Brief

Using a case study, you’ll be shown how to first get background materials in order, with a clear understanding of what the brief is about, instead of jumping straight into the middle of a matter without direction.

SESSION 3– R-EADY TO REVIEW

Why There’s More to Reviewing Documents Than Just Reading Them

As well as reading through and understanding background information, you’ll also need to review what you’ve been given so that you can identify issues and research any relevant points.

SESSION 4– I-MMERSE IN INFORMATION

The Essential Step of Immersing Yourself in Information

Weeding out irrelevant information, identifying missing relevant information & compiling supplementary information that will assist a barrister to better understand the matter are all integral parts of the brief preparation process.

SESSION 5– E-XTRACT EACH KEY FACT

Discover the Unbeatable Benefits of Creating a Chronology

The value of a properly prepared chronology cannot be overstated. In this session, you’ll learn how to prepare a chronology using your case study.

SESSION 6– F-INALISE THE FINISHING TOUCHES

Your Brief Won’t Be Complete Until You Finalise These Finishing Touches

Tips on preparation of observations are supplemented with a practical checklist of 15 FINISHING TOUCHES so that your brief gets out the door and up to chambers without falling at the final hurdle.