Third six pupil Rebecca Vanstone on dining in the House of Lords, getting stranded in far-flung stations and what it feels like to win a case
I started my criminal pupillage 18 months after finishing the BVC. Any thoughts I had of knowing what I was doing after the BVC went straight out of the window and I felt out of my depth very early on. It didn’t take long, however, to feel comfortable in my wig and gown (although I’m sure I looked like a child playing dress-up) and to know what was expected of me. One of my first tasks was to read through transcripts in a child sexual abuse case – this opened my eyes to the type of cases my pupil master regularly dealt with and made me realise I’d have to have a strong stomach to come through unscathed.
