James
Ball

I am a pupil barrister on the Midland Circuit and completed my undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Nottingham Law School (NLS), Nottingham Trent University.

It is fair to say that I did not get the A Level results which I expected or needed, and my journey to the Bar did not take the clear-cut path which I thought it would. Instead of heading straight to my insurance choice university, I decided to take a break from formal education and get some experience of the weird, woeful, and wonderful entity we call life.

I joined the aviation industry and enjoyed my time in this sector a great deal, but I still had my heart set on a career in the legal profession. Finding a way to combine the two, I took a less conventional route and started my LLB (Hons) degree through distance learning at NLS. During my studies, I worked full-time, represented NLS in national mooting competitions, and learnt a little about how the world works.

In August 2020, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, I was made redundant and started the Bar course at NLS. Ironically, however, I was invited back to my employment a matter of weeks after my redundancy. My time on the Bar course was mixed: it was challenging because of the yo-yoing in and out of COVID restrictions, and the subsequent uncertainty about entering the legal profession during a large-scale economic crisis.

Whilst I was writing my LLM dissertation, I lectured in Law at NLS, teaching on both undergraduate and postgraduate professional modules. I also spent time with the team in the NLS Legal Advice Centre (now NLS Legal), helping to run the newly formed Crime service area and working with the Employment team.

My academic interest in law did not cease with my studies. I was invited to co-author a number of case notes in peer-reviewed journals, and work on a series of revision guides for candidates preparing to take the newly formed Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE).