How Baby Barista got his L plates

Cartoonists know that someone else's ideas are good because we feel a twinge of jealousy that we didn't think of it ourselves. So it was with Tim Kevan's wonderful idea that all junior barristers, starting out in their careers, should wear L plates in court. Brilliant, I thought, why didn't I think of that?

Tim does the excellent Baby Barista blog, for which I draw the characters. Baby B's L plate nailed his character. After all, we've all been there, stumbling in our careers in our early days and wondering why anyone would pay us actual money for our lack of experience. As a junior barrister I used to marvel that any solicitor would pay me for my highly questionable skills as an advocate.

Once, after a couple of drinks, I told a solicitor at a Chambers' party that I should pay them - not the other way around. The clerks were furious - what was I thinking? After that, I soon learned to keep my mouth shut.