A Romanian woman at the English Bar

A dream that emerged in Romania and which later came to life in England. A life story in which the fact that I am Romanian gave me an unique insight into the English law and which also made me responsible.

I will explain a little bit my academic and professional background in order to understand better what prompted me to take this initiative. I graduated from Political Science at SNSPA in Bucharest and then I went on to read Law in England, qualifying as a barrister in London, and being admitted to the Bar of England and Wales in July 2012.  I had the great chance of  winning a scholarship for the Bar Professional Training Course and this helped me finance my studies.

One of the conditions for admission to the English Bar is becoming a member of one of the four professional societies of lawyers and judges called “Inns of Court” where you become a member for life. I am a member of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.

Inner Temple as a professional society has a history of over 600 years and one can remember famous members among whom Geoffrey Chaucer, Baroness Rosalyn Higgins (first woman president of the International Court of Justice), Lord John Keynes or Mahatma Gandhi.

Yet another famous member was a Romanian, in fact the first ever Romanian member of this society and the first ever Romanian to be called to the English Bar, namely Prince Constantin Karadja, in 1922. I found out about this, coincidence or not, on December 1st two years ago, when I was told that I am among the very few Romanian members in the entire history of hundreds of years of Inner Temple.

I told all these things to share with you what prompted me to develop the idea of ​​Romania there, away from home, in the middle of the English elite. Since then I have been empowered by the idea that I need to do more than just successfully completing my studies, namely to try to be an ambassador for my country as much as I can individually.

So was born the idea of ​​organizing the conference “Law and Ethics“, event which took place in June 2012 at the Central University Library in Bucharest, when for the first time ever,  distinguished members of the English Bar, lawyers and judges, came to Romania to meet and discover the Romanian legal environment, which led to a link between these two worlds, with long-term beneficial effects. Among the English guests were The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Laws, Tracy Ayling QC, Vivian Robinson QC, Jonathan Hirst QC, Treasurer of Inner Temple and Patrick Maddams, Sub-Treasurer of Inner Temple. The conference was opened by the British Ambassador in Bucharest, Martin Harris.

Subsequently to the conference, we held a special event at the University of Bucharest Law School, namely an English mock trial, first staged by the English lawyers and then by the Romanian students. I was extremely happy and proud at the same time when I saw how well-prepared the Romanian students were and the appreciation of the English delegation was superlative. They simply could not believe that those Romanian students, who had had no contact with English law before, could accurately capture the essence and finesse of the common law system. This pleased me greatly and makes me say that there is a positive Romania, a Romania in which the human resource is extremely valuable and inexhaustible.

As a result of the conference in Bucharest, Romania is now a positive topic of discussion among the English legal environment and there is a desire for continuity of such links between England and Romania.

This is my personal initiative, an initiative which aimed to promote a positive Romania.