By Jonathan McDonnell​, barrister, Park Square Barristers
This short article focuses on social mobility at the Bar. Specifically, it talks about my experiences as a working-class man from a council estate in Stalybridge: a small town roughly 8 miles east of Manchester. My experiences include attending an average state school; working in a factory; stacking shelves; commissioning as an officer in the Army; joining the legal profession as an apprentice; before finally qualifying as a barrister.
Education and upbringing
I was fortunate to be brought up by a family that valued hard work. For instance, my Nan worked several jobs simultaneously to make ends meet. These jobs were laborious and fatiguing; none of them paid well. The same applied to my parents: one was a taxi driver, the oth...