BabyBarista Blog

Tim Kevan has written the BabyBarista Blog since early 2007. For over three years it appeared at The Times and it is now with The Guardian. He has also had a novel published by Bloomsbury based upon the blog and another one is due from the same publisher, probably in 2011. It is a fictional caricature of life as a barrister in a London chambers. To read the blog, click here and for reviews and articles about it, see below. For details of other writing, click here.

REVIEWS

The Lawyer Magazine, 26/7/2007: "If this is a fictional account it is genius"

The Times Online, 31/3/2009: "the anonymous blog that has captivated the London legal profession for over two years"

American Bar Association Blawg 100 Winner 2008: "Fun from across the pond...It was a sensation from the start"

The Times Online "The unashamedly gossipy diary of a pupil barrister - the hottest blog in the legal world"

The Lawyer Magazine 2/4/2007 "Our favourite blawg of the moment still does not disappoint, with honeytraps, identity theft, deception and rivalry... and that's just in the four most recent instalments..."

The Legal Executive (Journal of the Institute of Legal Executives) "the whole blog is...a highly entertaining fiction..."

Eric the Hamster's website reviews "One of the funniest blogs I have read in a long time. The (allegedly fictional) account of the day to day work of a "Baby Barrister" (trainee lawyer). The worrying thing is that a lot of this rings true!"

Loopy Mups "I haven't had the joy of finding a good read for awhile now, purely out of sheer laziness. But this Blog has caught my limited attention span. I've sniggered, smirked and even laughed out loud and I'm still only catching up on the October Entries."

CriminalSolicitor.Net "Hilarious, particularly the accounts of how to undermine the other pupils, in order to assure his own place in chambers at the end of his pupillage."

Blawg Review#97 "David A. Giacalone at f/k/a says, "move over Anonymous Lawyer," and suggests I introduce Blawg Review readers to BabyBarista, an anonymously written account of the "pupillage" of a pupile barrister in London." Bob Coffied, Health Care Law Blog (on behalf of Blawg Review)

Charon QC "I'd like to draw your attention to a blog which I have been reading recently: BabyBarista...While it may be a fictional account of life as a pupil (There is much for the student and intending barrister) it has nuggets of information in pretty well every post. I particularly enjoyed this piece... and I quote..." (here) "Excellent" (here)

Delia Venables "This blog has already received quite a lot of critical acclaim - a novelist in the making perhaps."

Legal Spy UK "Heads up for this blog...It's got to be one of the funniest around"

T Sinister "appears to write more good gossip in a day than I hear in a week. And in British!" Trevor, Harvard Law School student.

Law Career Blog "Very, very funny, and very, very British" (here). "BabyBarista's blog is quintessentially British, in a very modern way: eloquently verbose, cutting, witty in the extreme. In the short time it's been online it has garnered significant readership. I see it as a UK counterpart to Jeremy Blachman's US-based Anonymous Lawyer...Should we be looking for a novel soon? US readers should pay particular attention to the fact that BabyBarista's fictional challenges and travails are quite literally the same as those faced by lawyers on this side of the pond: billing by the hour, poor mentoring, working with abnormal people, intolerance and impatience, burnout, lack of idealism, etc. Perhaps it's comforting, since misery loves company. Then again, perhaps not." (Here). Gregory W.Bowman, Assistant Professor, Mississippi College School of Law.

Nearly Legal "Think a menage a trois of Donna Tartt, Harry Mount and Anonymous Lawyer with looming Tesco's Law thrown in...thoroughly enjoyable."

John Bolch, Family Lore "excellent and highly interesting (not to mention entertaining)" (here)..."the excellent BabyBarista" (here)

Divorce Solicitor "amusing and cutting and may well help divert you from your anxieties about your divorce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lynn Bastow, partner, Bastows solicitors.

EU Law Blog "It is with unusual pleasure that we introduce you to Babybarista. It must be one of the funniest sites about starting out in legal practice. It features a young barrister in London, England...Just read and enjoy !"

Law Geek "This is the critically acclaimed and supposedly fictional account of a pupil barrister's experiences during his pupillage that is taking the web world by storm. Very witty and entertaining, LawGeek recommends this as a regular read."

UK Law Students "an entertaining read"

Law Student "as a wannabe barrister I am addicted to the newly discovered (for me) BabyBarista...I suspect more insightful than any mini pupillage."

lawyer-2-be "I must say that whilst I am getting quite excited about the next phase of my journey (pupillage), I am hoping and praying that I don't get a fellow pupil like baby barista - if you're not yet familiar with this "fictional account" of life as a pupil barrister, then it's definitely worth a read! It has me in fits most days and provides some welcome relief from the relentlessness of exams. Enjoy..."

Low-Fi Librarian "Especially like the Library Life post."

Aukland Law Society "BabyBarista is a blog that has the subtitle "Pupil barrister making coffee for the rich and famous". It is a diary of a barrister doing his pupillage - suposedly fictional, but one wonders! This blog has already received quite a lot of critical acclaim."

Binary Law "One new blogger, BabyBarista, has gained rapid visibility...His expressed aim (tongue in cheek, I'm sure not) is to land a book deal." Nick Holmes, managing director, InfoLaw.

Scottish Boomerang "What a gem his blog is, all that truth dressed (sometimes only in a bikini) up to look like fiction with the odd cliched legal urban legend thrown in just to throw us off the scent."