Francesca Kolar interviewed by The Advocacy Tutor

Francesca Kolar was interviewed by Sonia Simms for The Advocacy Tutor Brief.

Spotlight on Francesca Kolar

Francesca Kolar was called to the Bar in 2018. She is an experienced barrister practising across civil, criminal, family, clinical negligence, and police law. She appears regularly in the County Court, Family Court, Crown Court, and Magistrates’ Court.

Francesca has a growing police law practice, and is regularly instructed by police forces on account forfeiture, sexual risk orders, closure orders, and civil injunctions.

Francesca is a CPS Grade 3 prosecutor, she handles a range of criminal cases, from serious fraud to youth crime and sensitive trials involving vulnerable witnesses.

Before pupillage, Francesca worked as a legal assistant to a leading property Silk, equipping her with strong civil litigation skills. She also spent two years teaching debating in inner-London schools with the social mobility charity Debate Mate.

1. Diverse Practice Management: How do you manage such a varied practice across civil, family, criminal, and police law? What strategies have helped you balance these different areas effectively?

It is not easy to manage a common law practice, and my brilliant clerks play a huge and invaluable part in managing it so smoothly. Negotiating the diary can be very difficult when criminal or family cases overrun or go part heard. Ultimately my crime and family practice is predominantly court-based and my civil, personal injury and clinical negligence practice is paper-based, for example drafting pleadings, schedules and advice and so this balance helps me to maintain some equilibrium as being in court constantly can be very draining. A common law practice isn’t for everyone, but I thrive on being busy. At school I was one of those children who tried to do everything, music, drama, sports, art, debating, the list goes on.

2. Bar School Experience: Looking back, how did your experience at Bar school prepare you for the realities of practice? What do you wish you had known then?

On reflection Bar school did not prepare me for the reality of being a self-employed barrister, as brilliant as my tutors and peer group were. In my view learning how to succeed at being self-employed requires just as much effort as striving to be a successful barrister. Whilst I wouldn’t want to do any other job, I wish I had been better prepared for being self-employed. We are effectively working for ourselves, motivation can sometimes be difficult, but alongside the day job you need to find time to do marketing, maintain relationships with solicitors, attend conferences, stay involved with the Inns, plus staying on top of your receipts, chambers rent, aged debt, tax and VAT returns. Whilst Bar school prepared me for litigation, advocacy and pupillage, the realities of life at the Bar were not actively spoken about and in my first few years of practice it was a very steep learning curve.

3. Pupillage Journey: Can you share the challenges you faced during pupillage and how you overcame them?

My journey to tenancy was not straightforward, I started my 12-month pupillage at a small set with a close community feel, but I was predominantly prosecuting crime and doing Magistrates’ Court prosecution lists day in and day out. Whilst this was brilliant for cutting my teeth and honing my advocacy skills, it lacked the diversity in practice that I sought. I wanted to be at an ambitious leading set and so found myself making 3rd six pupillage applications in my final months. I was very lucky to be offered a 3rd six at 9 Gough Square, as it then was, and have never looked back.

I should have been in the final months of my 3rd six when the covid-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, but Courts closed, and I was given the option of postponing my application for tenancy. The diversity of practice areas at 9GS, now Deka, enabled me to develop a police law practice when Crown Court trials were halted and Courts scrabbled towards remote hearings. Police forces still required counsel for Closure Orders, Anti-social Behaviour or Gang Injunctions and so I was grateful to be able to successfully side-step into a new area of practice.

4. Advocacy Skills: How have you honed your skills, and what advice would you give to aspiring barristers on improving their advocacy?

Apart from learning every day in Court from making mistakes or by osmosis watching more experienced counsel, a couple of years ago I became involved in running the pupil advocacy programme in Chambers. I personally have learnt a great deal from the programme despite being the tutor, because it makes you reflect on what is effective advocacy, and I have to practice what I preach. That is the advice I would give to aspiring barristers – if you had a bad day in court ask yourself why, and what could I have done differently.

5. Memorable Cases: Can you share a memorable case that was particularly challenging or rewarding and what you learned from it?

Last summer I successfully prosecuted two young women from Just Stop Oil who threw tins of Heinz tomato soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting in the National Gallery. Protest cases are more challenging because of complex legal arguments and invariably every single element of the offence is in dispute. This case was more challenging because of the media attention. I have learnt from each of the protest cases that I have done and what I would do differently the next time, it is more about strategy and how you present the case. For example, I no longer agree that witness evidence can be read just to make things easier. Call the witness so the defence has to put their case, rather than allowing them to add their spin to it, though of course each case is different.

6. Handling Setbacks: The legal profession can be demanding. How do you handle setbacks, whether in court or with your workload?

Winning and losing is just part of the job and you have to pick yourself up quite quickly and move on. Setbacks in court which arise from a particularly difficult tribunal or an aggressive opponent I find much harder and more emotionally challenging. You do grow a thicker skin and become more resilient as the years roll by, but it can still feel overwhelming in the moment.

7. Role Models and Mentors: Who have been the most influential mentors or role models in your career, and what lessons did you learn from them?

I am very fortunate to be in Chambers with so many inspiring, ambitious women. To name but a few Claire Harden-Frost, Eleanor Mawrey, Louise McCullough and also my mentor from Lincoln’s Inn Antonia Benfield who was crucial in helping me obtain pupillage. Being led by some of them has been a privilege, those cases have hugely shaped who I am as an advocate as you learn by just absorbing everything about how they present the case, cross-examine, how they handle complex legal issues, then I try my best to implement that in my own cases.

8. Advice for Aspiring Barristers: What practical advice would you give to law students or aspiring barristers about navigating their path to the Bar?

Resilience is key: “fall down seven times, get up eight”. Obtaining pupillage is a lesson in resilience, I was successful in my third round after many unsuccessful interviews and reserve offers. But if you want something enough, whether it is pupillage, taking silk, being appointed to the Bench, then you must not give up. It may sound trite but developing your mental strength and perseverance is essential to life at the Bar.

9. Coffee or Case Law?: If you had to choose between your morning coffee or an extra hour to prep for a case, which would win and why?

Most definitely coffee. Whilst there is always another document you could read or a bit of research you could do, I think best when I am on the move – coffee in hand. I will say parts of my opening/closing speech aloud, I will re-order my submissions and then I make a note on my phone to return to later. Thinking space is just as important as reading that one last document.

10. Superpower for Advocacy: If you could have one superpower to use in the courtroom, what would it be? (e.g., mind-reading, instant legal research skills, perfect memory?

An encyclopaedic infinite database of legal knowledge, so that I could always know the answer to the pertinent question asked by the Judge that I had just not thought about.

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