Career Break Things to Think About
BMIF
Check the up to date position with the BMIF and keep them informed.
Tel. 020 7621 0405.
CPD
Check the up to date position with the Bar Standards Board and keep them informed. Consider whether you want to seek a reduction in CPD commitments, maybe it would be better to keep your hand in and increase your confidence by attending cpd courses during your break. Attending chambers seminars or SBA events will provide opportunities to network and find out what is going on.
Bar Council Subscriptions
Check the up to date position with the Practising Fee Section of this website.
Chambers Rent – Direct debits
Check the relevant chambers policy re maternity/paternity/sabbatical/parenting break etc and agree how it will be implemented in advance to avoid misunderstandings.
Have a Practice meeting Before You Go
You may not know exactly when you are coming back or how well you will cope when you do, but that is not reason for you not to discuss matters with your Head of Chambers/Clerks/Practice Manager as appropriate. It may be worth minuting the discussion to avoid misunderstandings later. Try and agree whether you want to be offered paperwork while you are absent. Are you prepared to contribute to chambers newsletters or seminars while you are absent? If you do not say what you want and know what chambers are expecting then it is all too easy to feel pestered or ignored if your expectations do not match up with theirs. It is good to talk.
How realistic are your expectations for your return to work? Is your practice manageable on a part-time basis if you want to? If so can it be organised as, say, 3 or 4 days per week, or would it be better to take longer gaps between cases, especially during school holidays (i.e traditional law vacations). Do you want to start thinking about adjustments to your practice?
Put Return/Update Meeting in Diary
It is very easy to think that you will leave this to be fixed “when you are ready” and then for it not to happen. “I am waiting until they are ready” too easily is interpreted as “they are no longer interested in me”. Putting a date in the diary avoids such a misunderstanding. It may need to be changed, but do not take the date out without ensuring that another date is planned.
Accounts
- up to date?
- provision for tax?
- year end need adjusting?
- pension provision?
- accountant knows what is happening and how to get hold of you?
VAT
- will you remain registered?
- If so how will you do your returns?
Maternity Benefit
This is one of the few benefits that the money you pay for NI as a self employed person actually entitles you to, so you might as well claim it.
Information on benefits, both statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance, is available on the DWP website:
Bear in mind there are up to 10 “keeping in touch” work days allowed before you return to work. Information about this is available here.
Also a one off payment of (currently) £190 is non means tested and tax free for expectant mothers: See Health in Maternity Grant.
Lawtel/Subscription Services
Consider what you want to have during your break. It may be tempting to cancel everything, but consider what it would be useful to keep up to date with to make a return easier.
Email Addresses/Out of Office Messages/ Voice Mail Message
What message do you want solicitors and fellow members of the bar to get when they try and contact you? If you say nothing they may get frustrated and fed up. If you are open they may join in the excitement of your break and look forward to your return.
Nomination of a Chambers Buddy – Contact Routine
How will you find out what is going on in your absence. If everyone thinks “I do not want to bother her, someone else will tell her” then you may not get to know even quite important things. You may come back to discover the Head of Chambers and senior Clerk have changed and the set has moved to a new address, better to know as it goes along. Ask one person to keep you informed and to check your pigeon hole and your diary from time to time to make sure all is well and notify you of (or sort out) any problems.
What do you want to be told about Chambers meetings, chambers parties/seminars/solicitor events/changes to management committee/staff
Tell those responsible. They may be senior or junior members of the clerking team. Do not expect them to guess what you want. What you want may not be the same as the last person to take a break.
Home Internet Access
To help you keep in touch make sure that you have internet access at home and that you can have remote access to chambers intranets/diary etc. Make sure your contact numbers are on the chambers system so that calls can be patched through to you if you wish. You may want to leave a list of solicitors who you do want patched through, and those that you do not.
Informing Solicitors
Leave a list of solicitors to be told about going/events during break (Birth of child, reaching top of Everest, getting novel to publishers etc)/ coming back, and keep a copy, with telephone numbers, addresses and email addresses so you can contact them if you want to.
Some solicitors will know more about what you are up to than others, and you may wish some to be kept informed of developments but not others. Do not expect the clerks to guess which ones unless you are happy if they get it wrong.
Contact Details for Support Network on Mobile/Given to Clerks
If you come back after having children then your life will have changed. Make sure that your clerks understand your child care arrangements and commitments so they can work round them. Build a network of other supporting parents and/or family who can stand in and do the pickup from school if there is a problem. Consider whether you want the clerks to have these numbers in case of emergency.
Managing Your Career Break DVD
We are pleased to announce that we have for sale a recording of the Managing your Career Break seminar which was held at the Bar Council in 2008.
The DVD was kindly sponsored by Place Campbell.
If you would like a copy of the DVD, please send a cheque (made payable to the Bar Council) for £5.00 to cover posting and packaging to Angela Campbell, at The Bar Council, DX 240.
Career Break Check List
