Charlotte Pickering does not come from a background which many people would think of as being typical for a barrister. As a state school educated daughter of a working family in Luton she was always someone who aimed high regardless of discouragement from some of her peers and teachers.

'The aspirations that my teachers and tutors had for me was certainly not to go and be a barrister. In fact, in a sad sort of way, it was actively discouraged. It was seen as a bit over-ambitious and a bit of a fantasy.'

However, Charlotte always knew that to succeed she would need to have a lot of determination, and so she set her sights on the goal of becoming a barrister regardless.

After her school went into special measures due to its poor performance, Charlotte went onto College. There she studied English, Politics and History receiving straight A's in all three. 'There's no one subject which you need to study at A-Level to be a barrister so it's usually a good idea to pick subjects that you're interested in and you know you'll do well at.' As a barrister you will often have to pick apart arguments contained in large amounts of information and so many believe that it can be helpful if you pick some essay based subjects which will help in developing these skills. Charlotte now works at Ely Place chambers in London practising civil litigation which in her case involves a mix of employment, commercial and civil Law. 'Civil litigation is everything other than crime or family. With civil litigation there are so many areas of law that you can do so every day is completely different. So one day I could be doing an employment case all day and the next day it could be damages for someone who got hit by a car. I really enjoy the freedom of it. I enjoy being able to organise my own time – I really like the unpredictability of my week.' For Charlotte, sticking to her dream of becoming a barrister has paid off, proving that if you work hard enough and you have the determination, anyone can become a barrister.