Lucy Barnes

I am Lucy Barnes (@CEPbarrister on X). From October this year, I will be a pupil barrister at East Anglian Chambers. I am CEO and Co-Founder of Lawyers Who Care, the UK’s first organisation helping individuals who have spent time in the foster care system enter legal careers. I was also one of the #100faces of the Universities UK 100 faces campaign for 2024, platforming graduates who were the first in their families to go to university.

My path into law is as unconventional as it gets, but I’m working towards making that less so. I grew up in poverty in Suffolk and Colchester living in multiple council estates. I grew up in a household of neglect, domestic abuse and family dysfunction. As a result, I was kicked out of my family home at age 13 and placed into a foster care arrangement. Whilst my foster family believed in me and supported me to grow academically, I pushed my foster family away and was kicked out at 16. At that age I stopped receiving any local authority support and was expected to be an adult. This is referred to as ‘falling off the care cliff’. By the age of sixteen, I had already been homeless twice and to those on the outside my prospects looked bleak.

Growing up, there were no opportunities in law for people like me. No one from the estates I came from became lawyers. I had no social capital to teach me about the profession including the etiquette, unwritten codes and language. I did not know what a barrister was until I was 16 and my foster dad told me I could become one. His simple words “I believe in you” struck me and sparked a determination to beat the odds. Which is exactly what I did. 

I worked a part-time job from 16 to 18 to fund my undergraduate degree and stayed up until 4am most nights to revise despite internal and external chaos. I researched everything about the legal profession and earned my first work experience placements at Linklaters and Matrix Chambers at just 17. I was disheartened scrolling through pages of barristers who all seemed to have gone to private school or Oxbridge, but I knew I would not give up. To me, becoming a barrister was not just a dream, it was a calling. Believing I could one day pave the way for others from my background gave me purpose. And there is nothing more powerful than a woman with purpose. 

I was over-the-moon on results day when I achieved the grades to go to the University of Surrey, my dream university. This was a blank slate to start a life where I no longer had to be defined by my background. I believed that I could be someone not in spite of my background, but because of it. There was no bank of Mum and Dad so I worked two part-time jobs alongside my studies just to get by. I achieved a 2:1 in law and completed another 4 mini-pupillages during my undergraduate degree. I went on to become a freelance Barrister’s Assistant and achieve an Honourable Society of Middle Temple major scholarship to fund my BTC studies alongside a BPP Commitment to the Bar scholarship. From there, I secured pupillage at East Anglian Chambers. In my application, I spoke proudly about how my background made me a resilient, hard-working and determined advocate. 

Securing pupillage was a huge moment for me. Especially at a set I had gained great admiration for on my mini pupillage with them. But I knew I wanted to do more for others like me. In June 2023 I went public about transcending the adversities I had in life, with a post on X reaching nearly 1 million views. From there I met the formidable Kate Aubrey-Johnson from Garden Court Chambers, a youth justice barrister with a passionate interest in improving the lives of care-experienced people. We went on to found Lawyers Who Care together, combining our professional and personal experience. We were lucky to meet Gemma Creamer, a talented care-leaver aspiring for the Bar, who now leads LWC. We are providing opportunities and opening doors for care-experienced people whilst erasing the stigma associated with being from a care background. While we have unique career barriers which Lawyers Who Care seeks to overcome, we also have unique talents to enrich the legal profession. As I argued in a Bar Council blog, we should not be told to “be realistic” about careers in law. Diversity and inclusion of care-experienced advocates enhances the profession for our clients. I invite the profession to consider how we can effectively be a voice for care-experienced clients and share their stories in court if we do not understand, or give visibility to, care experience. For care-experienced people, access to the profession is access to justice. 

For more on me:

- Article in The Times, reported by Catherine Baksi on 23rd May 2024 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-was-eating-pasta-and-baked-beans-but-i-refused-to-give-up-dnlsf9bcl

- Article by University of Surrey (2023): https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/care-leavers-deserve-be-seen-their-talents 

- My website (including a portfolio of my speaking, podcast appearances and written work): www.lucykatebarnes.co.uk 

- My article for the Bar Council: https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/raising-the-bar-care-experienced-people-belong-here.html 

- My article for NAFP: https://www.nafp.org.uk/articles/raising-the-bar-for-children-in-foster-care 

- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucykatebarnes?originalSubdomain=uk 

For more on Lawyers Who Care: 

- Visit our website www.lawyerswhocare.org 

- The Times Article: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/removing-barriers-to-law-for-people-who-grew-up-in-care-xw5q6mzl2 

- Legal Futures Article: https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/new-group-to-advance-legal-careers-for-those-with-experience-of-care 

- Contact us at info@lawyerswhocare.org 

Written by Lucy Barnes