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The mere mention of the Bar has always raised every kind of emotion, from the highest of praise and respect right down to contempt and ridicule. Traditionally, it is a profession that has been shrouded in secrecy and even walking in the Inns of Court, one immediately senses the forbidding atmosphere.

Very noticeably, there has always been confusion and annoyance about how people actually get pupillage. Is it due to having a double first degree from Oxbridge and/or having a double-barrelled surname and a private education or even having had a 'related' professional career first, such as a doctor, accountant or even the military etc?

Recall the memorable article by 'Jeremy Marks' in The Times in 1997 criticising the way pupillages were awarded and echoing the frustrations of many hardworking young men and women who were committed to a career at the Bar, no doubt at great expense to themselves both financially and in terms of their social lives, just to be sneered at and insulted during pupillage interviews. A particular friend of mine was even asked if they were going to inherit money!!!

Of course, life inside the Bar may well have been very different. In Harry Mount's, "My Brief Career", he describes how a fellow pupil was asked to stand and block the sun for his Pupil Master. There have also been tales of how pupils have even had to clean Chambers' toilets whilst everyone in Chambers stood there and watched them as part of the 'initiation'.

Anyhow, the catalyst for change for the Bar came with the case of Hall v Simons back in 2000 which ended Barristers' immunity from suit. A slight revenge for the Bar (even if indirectly) was the Direct Access Scheme. However, noticeably in the past ten years or so with the recession still biting, there has overall been a marked improvement in the attitude of the Bar. Rather than seeing themselves as superheroes, proverbially patting themselves on the back and wiping their brows in disbelief at how wonderfully brilliant they are and jogging round the sports track with a cheering crowd and to the accompaniment of the Chariots of Fire music, Barristers now seem far more anxious to work harder and to accommodate their clients with their traditional 'stuffiness' having disappeared.

Whether the Bar can still be regarded as a great centre of learning is open to debate. It has to its credit given us phenomenally bright people such as Lord Hoffman and Lord Pannick. However, answered briefly, the Bar has to move with the times, and inevitably will have to accept more public scrutiny particular in today's tough financial environment.