Charles FRANCIS AM RFD QC interview 4/11/2003

I believe you drifted into the law, rather than actively choosing it.

I don’t like that expression, but it probably describes it fairly accurately. After the war, we had service reconstruction training available, and you could go to the university free and be paid an allowance while you were there, if you were an ex-serviceman. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I thought the law was a good background for many jobs, so in the last year in the Air Force, I decided to do law.

After I’d graduated, I thought I might as well get the qualification of barrister and solicitor and be admitted, so I went to a firm and did articles there. Shortly after, I was admitted and then for a short time, I was an employee at that firm. But in those days, solicitor-employees were paid very little and after a few months, I thought I might as well give the Bar a go, because I couldn’t be earning less than I was there! I went to the Bar. The first five months were very quiet. The next ten months were alright, but after fifteen months, I became very busy and haven’t really thought about it since!!

How old were you then?

I was 24 when I came to the Bar.

Do you feel, having served in the war, that it was invaluable for your practice?

Oh, it made a huge difference. When I came to the Bar, nearly all of the Bar had served during the war. At one stage in the war, there were only 22 barristers left in practice and all the rest were either in the armed services or in government jobs. But it did give you an added sense of responsibility, a much greater experience of life, and I think it gave you confidence. It seems extraordinary now, but I was an acting commanding officer when I was 20 – a very responsible post – and that sort of thing sticks with you for life.

Conducted for the Bar Oral History project by Juliette Brodsky in the Neil McPhee Room, Owen Dixon Chambers and filmed by Stewart Carter (People Pictures)