Hurrah​, I have​​ wheedled​ (yes wheedled!)​​ a ​training ​place in a law firm for my six-mont​h ​​supervised practice for the bar! (This might not sound like much, but there is only one training cycle each year, and, with 10-15% of graduates in the past few years not placing and hanging about swelling the applicant pool further each subsequent year, these days it is an accomplishment to secure any training place at all, especially if one planned on wheedling for places.)

My six months won't be in criminal work: my Supervisor is a civil litigator of twenty-two years vintage, and who also handles advisory/transactional work in family law and commercial matters. No complaints there -- civil litigation is good preparation for all-round general practice, and people who have worked for him (a decade ago) speak of him as a good teacher ('A bit zen,' was one of the comments; maybe this will turn out like Lu-Tze and Lobsang Ludd...) The firm itself is very small, with just five partners and no associates, but all senior in standing. I interned with them in December and liked the vibe -- people are serious about work but always joking around in the corridors; no one minds you asking for advice on your case even when they are busy; more important, it feels like the kind of place where people can have a flaming and honest row in the open and then it blows over and no harm done -- I hate Asian deference and not speaking one's mind (long grudges behind the mask of politeness) as much as I am tired of sensitivity (hell, I'm hypersensitive enough myself to know how tiring it is to keep worrying about trampling on people's feelings and getting trampled on.) As for the other trainees, I've met two of them (there will be six(!) of us in two rooms -- I don't know how we'll avoid looking like a sweat-shop), and they seem extremely nice. One can't ask any more than that.

And I like that the firm is on the Sungei/Jalan Besar end of Little India, a ten-minute walk from Little India Station (measured pace, not a clip-clop trot), most convenient for me on the NEL (the older I get the more important extra shut-eye becomes; morning commutes should be as short as possible and involve the minimum of transfers.) And unorthodox as the location is I do like being in Little India, with its colour and history (I would hate to be in a Shenton Way firm, milling around Raffles Place with prissy pearled-neck ladies and men in starched monogrammed shirts and fancy suits), and close enough to Jalan Besar/Arab Street/Bras Basah for Friday night chill-outs (if I am still standing at the end of the week.)

So that is the news: graduation in June, centralised practical law course for five months, and then the six month training and on track to be called in July '16.