Thriving in your first year of practice

Fahrid Chishty

Fahrid was educated at King’s College London, The City Law School and the Honorable Society of Gray’s Inn. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2019, winning the Inn’s Wilfred Watson, Hebe Plunkett and Ann Felicity Goddard QC scholarships. He practises from Guernica37 Chambers in London, specialising in criminal, regulatory, public and international law. His opinions have been published in the Cambridge International Law Journal (CIJL), Counsel, Dawn, The Lawyer Monthly and Eastern Eye. In 2023, he received both the Society of Asian Lawyers’ (SAL) Rising Star Award and the Inns of Court Pegasus Scholarship, taking up a ten-week research fellowship at the Supreme Court of Pakistan focussing on criminal justice administration and procedural law reform.

Tadhgh Barwell-O'Connor, 1KBW

Tadhgh is a family law barrister specialising in international cases with experience of complex, multi-day trials up to the High Court. He is a recommended ‘Rising Star’ in Legal 500 2025 in both Matrimonial Finance and Children Law. He was a 2021 to 2022 Pegasus Scholar to USA, awarded a scholarship to attend the Florida Bar Advanced Trial Advocacy Programme in 2024 and participated in the Anglo-Dutch Legal Exchange in 2024. He was shortlisted for both Young Family Law Barrister of the Year and Young Pro-Bono Barrister of the year in 2021 and won Young Family Law Barrister of the year 2024.

Major Sarah Gerrard, Army Legal Services

Sarah decided to pursue a career as a barrister when she secured a scholarship for the BPTC with Gray’s Inn. She began practising at the self-employed Bar in Albion Chambers, Bristol, where she had a common law practice, with a heavy emphasis on crime, personal injury and family law. During pupillage, she quickly learned the areas of practice she wanted to focus on and, in her first year of tenancy, she started to concentrate on crime, personal injury and inquests, moving away from family law. 

"I had a wonderful time in chambers but felt I wanted greater purpose in my career; I had a sense of duty, I wanted to give more back to society and I longed for more adventure. That is why I applied to the Army Legal Services (ALS), and I have not looked back since. I have advised on service complaints, been in charge of training new lawyers in the ALS, prosecuted in the courts martial and now advise on military operations in the UK."

Michelle Moxon, Head of Services, The Bar Council

Michelle joined the Bar Council in March 2013 and following the closure of Barco, was promoted to the role of Services Manager in 2019. Working closely with the Director of Services, she leads the day-to-day management of the existing services and products offered to the Bar, including those that form part of the Bar Representation Fee benefits.