My father had been a lawyer in India and East Africa but wasn’t keen on me becoming a lawyer. It’s a bit of a standing joke but it’s true – every Indian parent wants their kid to become a doctor, whether or not you have any skillset in that direction! My dad was dead against the Bar in particular because it didn’t have a regular income attached. There was no family encouragement whatsoever.
I defied my dad and did the subject I was most passionate about at university. History. I wanted to become a historian, and had a place to do a doctorate in modern British history at Oxford, but I changed my mind. My tutor at college suggested I wasn’t necessarily suited to a solitary existence writing a thesis for three or four years. He suggested the Bar as it would be intellectually satisfying and I’d make some money.
