Ben Leb is reading law at a university in the East of England. As a student he enjoys mooting, debating, negotiating and is also a committee member of his university’s student law society. He doesn’t quite know what he wants to specialize in, but he enjoys reading and writing on different matters that catch his fancy.
He tries to earn some cash to support himself by being a freelance interpreter and translator and takes assignments on legal and sometimes commercial topics. Outside the world of serious professionals, he enjoys hopping on a 13 ft long floating piece of plastic and tries moving forward with help of nature’s powers. He does this frequently, even in quite inhumanely low temperatures.
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For DCC, Ben got off his piece of plastic and answered the following questions:
1: What is your most favourite part of the day?
I used to be very much of a night person. This means that I stayed up till late and preferred to work sometimes till dawn and then wake up at 9 am the latest. This, however, has changed. Nowadays I prefer to rise early and try making the most of the 24 hours available. I start my day with a jog which prepares me for the challenges ahead. Whatever the weather, I enjoy the fresh air and the peace before everything starts moving again.
2: What is the worst kind of person you ever sat next to on a flight?
A chain smoker who prior to traveling attended a night long party, where he smoked and drunk in the very same clothes he wore for the journey. The charm of such people is usually amplified by their staggering ability to proclaim to know everything about anything. These people of course are generally too talkative.
3: Something you always wanted to learn but never did?
Salsa. One of my ex-girlfriends used to be an amazing dancer. She was very passionate about it and I have always thought it to be a great engagement even before I got to know her. So yes, I’d want to learn how to dance so once our paths cross each other, I could show off how impressive a Latino dancer I have become.
4: Which trial/case still haunts you till today?
I am just a student, thus I haven’t been involved in any cases yet. Nonetheless, I enjoyed mooting last year’s moot competition where a fictional case involved the issue whether an unlawful act of manslaughter can be constructed upon common law assault occasioning psychiatric harm. The case was analogous to R v Dhaliwal, with the difference that the evidence as to the nature of the injury, was conclusive. This was my first piece of law related advocacy I have ever done. Naturally, I have prepared a lot, thus assault; harm, psychiatric/psychological damage, and manslaughter are areas of criminal law which I now know very well.
5: If you have a blog, how did you get started? Who or what inspired you to blog?
I think for me the question of whom or what can hardly be separated. When I stepped on my path to become a lawyer I already followed the blogs of Michael (Law Actually), Android’s Reminiscences, Law Minx, Michael Myerson QC and of course Charon QC. I realized that the experiences of student bloggers were extremely valuable guidance. Mr. Myerson QC’s blog has always been and still remains very helpful and there is of course Charon QC whose blog is one of the first points of reference for me when it comes to current developments. The work these people all contributed to the establishment of my blog.
Furthermore, I wished to be part of this vibrant and intellectually very engaging circle. The idea that I could share my opinion on contemporary issues appealed to me. Furthermore, I loved that there would open up some virtual fora where I could discuss topics related to my passion, law.
Quite apart from the above, I realised that I enjoy writing and that most students are somehow behind the day’s developments. I personally go through the major papers’ online edition every morning and I was surprised to find that not many of my fellows do the same. I thought that if I start writing a blog about what catches my fancy at least my closer friends who know of my blog would start to discover how law flows through all aspects of our daily life and how it can be found in almost every piece of news. Sadly though I have far less time for blogging lately than I would like to have, therefore I could not yet complete some articles I am currently working on.
6: Did you end up in the profession of your childhood dreams?
Even though I did not qualify yet I feel that this is what I’d like to do and will end up doing. There were times, however, when I took a different view of my career. I wanted to be a lot of things when I was little; perhaps the most notable was my wish to become a dust man. I must have been about 4 and I wanted to drive the truck and I also quite liked their high visibility vests. More seriously, for long it looked as though I will choose a career lying closer to economics as that would be an area where I could use my linguistic skills. But then it turned out that I enjoy law far too much. But hey, the way training course and pupilage market looks I might end up being a bin man.
7: Tell us about your most embarrassing experiences in a restaurant, opening a bottle of wine, or do-it-yourself projects. Pick one and tell all!
I must confess I have never had any embarrassing accidents in restaurants. This was mainly due to the fact that when I was little my grandmother, being an old fashioned lady, often threatened me to put books under my armpits whilst I was eating. In this way, according to her, I would learn how to eat and behave properly. Quite draconian and luckily it never got this far.
When it comes to do-it-yourself projects, the position is quite different though. I am shockingly untalented in everything concerning DIY. Therefore I have never really attempted to construct anything more complicated than a tent. Yes, this is the most complex object I have every erected. Speaking of camping, I remember once I forgot to put up the front canvas of the tent so once we came back there was a nice pond inside. We had to spend the next 2 nights drying our clothes and sleeping bags. I am a competent light bulb changer though…