Amplifying your voice at the Bar

 

 

 

Tell us about your connection to the Bar?

I was called to the Bar in October 1999 by Gray’s Inn and although I am no longer practising, I remain a barrister and a member of Gray’s Inn, where I am delighted to have just been elected as an Honorary Bencher. Renewing the strength of my connection to my first profession and to my Inn brings me real joy. 

How did you become an opera singer?

When I was a teenager, I loved singing. I was a member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir at the age of 15. They didn't have a youth choir at that point and so I was the youngest member of the choir. The Phil (as it’s called in Liverpool) was my first exposure to world-class music making and they gave me my professional debut as the Voice from Heaven in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc. 

As an undergraduate, I read law at Cambridge University and was awarded a choral scholarship at Gonville & Caius College. After about a year, it became clear that life in a choir wasn’t ideal, my voice was too big, I was too loud. I had found myself down the other end of the chapel from the rest of the choir when there was a recording, so it was agreed I would leave and pursue singing elsewhere. After that, I embarked on singing more opera and became the Junior President of the Cambridge University Opera Society. However, whilst I comprehended that I was capable as a singer, I'd always intended to become a barrister.  

Did you practice at the Bar? 

My pupillage was at 2 Mitre Court Buildings, a chambers that doesn't exist anymore, specialising in planning and environmental law under the watchful eye of my pupil master Richard Glover KC. There was one other woman in chambers but she was never there, and I really disliked being in an all male environment. They offered me tenancy, but unbeknownst to them, I'd already started looking elsewhere and I turned them down. I moved happily to 1 Crown Office Row where they could both support my fledgling environmental practice, and also allow me to develop a broader civil practice. I did a third six there and was then taken on as a tenant, but all the while I was doing some singing.  

When I was at the Bar, I was led in a major case in the Court of Appeal. I was calm until my leader was called away and I was left to argue the case by myself, against my head of chambers and another silk. I remember the terror I felt, so I really can talk about how it feels to be under pressure as a barrister. My knees shook. I was intellectually ready to handle it, but it was quite an extraordinary thing for a very junior barrister (aged 24) to be put through, with a packed press gallery and all eyes on this young person. The experience gave me a real insight into how stress can take a toll on your physical ability to advocate for your clients.

What sparked your move from the law to opera singing?

After about two years in full practice, a barrister friend was getting married and I wasn’t really thinking about singing at the time, but I sang at his wedding and lots of people gave me really positive feedback about my singing. Then I sang at another wedding of another barrister friend who was marrying a solicitor. It turned out the bride's family were very connected into the music world and there were lots of really important people from the music industry in the congregation. I was bombarded with questions: Why was I not singing? Why was I a barrister? Sir Stephen Cleobury’s wife Emma was at the wedding and she told me that Stephen wanted to talk to me, because he'd always thought that I should have been a professional singer and he was willing to help me if I wanted to apply to study at a conservatoire. I took him up on his offer and decided to give auditioning a go. I then told my singing teacher Lillian Watson, who is still my teacher even today, and she was convinced I wasn’t ready, not least because I had no time in my court diary to prepare.

I applied to all the conservatoires thinking they would reject me and I'd never darken their doors again, but I knew I would never regret trying. The auditions were really weird because in one sense it was so wildly different from my working life that involved appearing in the High Court and high value claims and all that comes with being a barrister, yet I was also able to deal with pressure. No panel of musicians is ever going to be as scary as a judge.

I secured a scholarship postgraduate place at the Royal College of Music. It was always the place where I wanted to be and it was where my singing teacher taught. I didn't know if I'd ever make it into the industry, so although I left chambers, I always knew I could go straight back if singing didn’t work out.  Within a few weeks of arriving at college, an audition notice went up for an opera by Benjamin Britten called Albert Herring, which was being directed by Sir Thomas Allen, the baritone. It was his directorial debut. Rather than just cast from the opera school (I was a lowly postgraduate, not a member of the opera school at this point), he decided to open the auditions out to the whole college and anybody could audition. I was shocked to learn that I was cast in the role of Mrs Herring, despite not being in opera school, and it caused the biggest political stink. After opening night, I was signed by one of the world's top management agencies, who managed my career for 22 years until two years ago when I switched agencies. Singing took off and I never stepped back to the Bar. I didn’t ever imagine that I would leave the Bar forever, it just worked out that way. 

What connects the Bar and opera singing? 

There are huge parallels between the Bar and performing in opera. Firstly, I'm a freelancer, so similar to being a barrister in chambers. You have clerks in chambers, and I have agents who do the same sort of job as a clerk. Directors and conductors are similar positions to those held by judges, there’s a hierarchy, and there’s always somebody in charge who I ultimately have to answer to and who is the ultimate arbiter, whether you’re talking about law or music.

Whether you're arguing a case or whether you're performing an opera, it’s a similar set of skills. The only major difference is that I, as a singer, am being fed what somebody else has written, unlike at the Bar where I would craft and write the arguments I deployed in court or on paper. I'm not actually developing opera or music for myself, I’m not a composer, but I am developing the emotional connection in order to be able to communicate those emotions to an audience. Ultimately, the performance skills are the same in both careers though, and I have to manage my physicality and nerves in either context.  

And your session at Bar Conference?

I will talk about the idea of embodied performance in advocacy. It’s connected to the idea that what comes out of your mouth isn't the only bit of the picture that matters. The most successful advocates are those who have ultimate control over their physicality and their voices.

Your tone of voice can make a huge difference to how your argument is received. Your handling of a witness can make or break a case and therefore your approach to that, not just in terms of your actual words, is critical. If you're a barrister and you're in a long trial, the last thing you want is for the judge to switch off because they're bored. It's not just about the content of what you are saying, and it's not about being flamboyant. It's about making a compelling argument and presenting it in a manner that is engaging to those who are listening. 

You're either somebody who has natural charisma or not. What you can do, if you're not somebody who's naturally very charismatic, who people don't naturally sit up and listen to, is strengthen your presentation skills. There are also other challenges that barristers can face, for example I have coached a judge who had vocal cord paralysis. He was faced daily with courtrooms full of people he had to address, and he didn't know what sound was going to come out of his mouth.

Speaking voices as well as singing voices can be as affected by colds and other health issues so it would be a mistake to ignore those aspects of working life for a barrister. Also, if you are arguing a long case and you're on your feet a lot, many barristers don't know how to cope vocally. They don't know how to project their voices safely over extended periods and they don't know how to look after their voices outside the courtroom. These sorts of issues are not talked about enough at the Bar.

If you mismanage your speaking voice, you can end up with nodules on your vocal cords. Even if you are doing online presentations in a lot of cases, if you can't project your voice adequately, you're going to struggle.
 
Who should attend your session at Bar Conference?
 
My experience as both a barrister and opera singer is quite unique, but also quite informative, particularly to the younger end of the Bar. By the time a barrister takes silk, by and large, they've learned what does and doesn't work, but even then, senior barristers can still find things catching up with them.

One silk asked me for help because he lost his voice after a long trial and was scared he wouldn’t get it back, really unseating his confidence. If a barrister is struggling with their voice, their confidence and/or their physicality, I'm happy to help, either on a 1:1 basis or in group sessions, so please get in touch via the Bar Council. I’m very much looking forward to giving my session at Bar Conference, do come along. 
 
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