casual Friday
the baby barrister
unbuttons his vest
one more follow-up (July 2, 2010): BabyBarista keeps drawing the f/k/a Gang out of their blawgy retirement. But, I think he’ll stay put this time. To wit:
My surfer-blawg buddy Tim Kevan moves his BabyBarista weblog to The Guardian‘s blossoming Law Section today. Read about the move here. The Guardian is one smart newspaper/website.
We celebrate this morning with a tip of our coffee mug and a posting at dagosan’s haiku diary.
special post-retirement follow-up (May 26, 2010; 11 PM): Rather than having BabyB hidden behind the looming new paywall of The Times Online, Tim Kevan has withdraw his BabyBarista weblog from The Times and relaunched it at http://www.babybarista.com/. See Tim’s press release (May 27, 2010) at his original Barrister Blog. Although he made the decision to withdraw with regret, and remains “extremely grateful to The Times for hosting the blog“, Tim explained that “ I didn’t start this blog for it to be the exclusive preserve of a limited few subscribers.” The f/k/a Gang rouses ourselves from our archival slumbers to salute their declaration of independence, and to wish BabyBarista and Tim Kevan all the best at the “free-standing” website. We also look forward to the paperback version of BabyB’s first novel “The Art of War,” which will be published this summer, under the new title Law and Disorder, as well as the sequel expected in 2011.
BabyBarista hasn’t yet secured a position in Chambers, but the fictional pupil barrister has just landed in the big leagues of the UK legal scene, only two months after launching his blogspot diary of impish machinations and well-mentored cynicism. This mischievous “fictional account of a pupil barrister undergoing the trials of pupillage at the English Bar” caused such a stir around the Inns of Court, that the Baby Barister weblog is now hosted by the London TimesOnLine, in its Law Reports section (rss link; live as of April 9, 2007).
To the delight of BabyB‘s fans, the TimesOnline site includes prequel postings, filling in the first year of pupillage. Here, in brief, is The Story So Far:
BabyBarista has been a pupil barrister fighting to get a place at a London chambers since October last year. Early on, he made a faustian pact with The Boss to help cover up his negligence in return for preferment. Meanwhile, he has been committing various acts of subterfuge against his fellow pupils. First, he encouraged Worrier to make a career-limiting sex discrimination complaint. Then he set up BusyBody by making it appear as if she put a recording of the head of chambers’ comments on YouTube. He is currently testing the faithfulness of TopFirst to his fiancee using HoneyTrap. Since April, another pupil, ThirdSix has arrived and UpTights has become his pupilmistress. OldRuin looks on unmoved.
BabyBarista‘s original SideBar stated “publishers make me an offer I can’t refuse.” If we ever needed evidence that a weblog fueled by talent and chutzpah can quickly garner attention within and beyond the legal community, BabyBarista‘s anonymous* author has surely made the point. Please let his new media Boss know how much you appreciate the tales of this precociously-lawyerly baby barrister, as he “serves coffee to the rich and powerful,” by visiting often and leaving Comments. Congratulations to BabyB, whoever you are!
*/ Anonymous No More: After biting our tongues to keep this juicy secret for the past couple of years, the f/k/a Gang is pleased to announce that, on March 31, 2009, TimesOnline unmasked BabyBarista — he is our friend Tim Kevan, proprietor of The Barrister Blog, and co-author of “Why Lawyers Should Surf” [see our prior post.] The revelation was made for the most lawyerly of reasons: to help make Tim rich and famous, as he anticipates the publication of the humorous novel “BabyBarista and the Art of War” (Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 3 Aug 2009).
Clearly, turning a weblog into both a paying column and a block-buster novel is every blawger’s wet dream. And, as you can see from Tim’s post at The Barrister Blog, it’s every surfing puppy’s wet dream, too.
update (September 7, 2009): We’re in blawg-retirement status, so Walter Olson at Overlawyered.com was kind enough to let me borrow his mega-forum today to post “BabyBarista serves up a cool, dark brew-haha“– a book review of “BabyBarista and the Art of War“.
midway through the argument
opposing counsel
crosses her legs……………………………………. by dagosan
q.s. We hope BabyB will let us know the reaction in Chambers to the news that “lawyers given chance to ditch wig and gown” in civil, commerical and family cases. (TimesOnline, April 9, 2007)