Entrance to Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in around the Royal Courts of Justice in London, England to which barristers belong and where they are called to the bar. The others are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Lincoln's Inn. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1606 KB) Summary Photo of one of the entrances to Grays Inn, taken 24 September 2005 by User:Edward. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1606 KB) Summary Photo of one of the entrances to Grays Inn, taken 24 September 2005 by User:Edward. ... The Inns of Court, in London, are where barristers train and practise. ... The main entrance The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a building in London, which houses the Court of Appeal and the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,421,328 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Inter. ... The legal profession in England and Wales is divided between solicitors and barristers. ... The Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London. ... The Inner Temple is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London, England, to which barristers belong and where they are called to the bar. ... Part of Lincolns Inn drawn by Thomas Shepherd c. ...

It is situated in Holborn, in the London Borough of Camden. The nearest tube station is Chancery Lane. Holborn (pronounced ho-bun or ho-burn) is a place in London, named after a tributary to the river Fleet that flowed through the area, the Hole-bourne (the stream in the hollow). ... The London Borough of Camden is an inner-London borough created in 1965 to replace the metropolitan boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, St Pancras. ... Chancery Lane tube station platform, eastbound Chancery Lane tube station platform, with arriving Central Line train Chancery Lane is a London Underground station in central London. ...

Known colloquially as the "Northern Inn" and reputedly the most friendly of the Inns, Gray's is often said to have a slight left wing slant. It is home to many top barristers' chambers including Matrix Chambers (the human rights set that Cherie Booth QC, the wife of British PM Tony Blair is a member of) and 1 Gray's Inn Square (a leading criminal set). In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms that refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially but not exclusively in the American sense of the word...

All student barristers have to join one of the four inns in order to qualify as a barrister. As well as taking exams at Bar School they have to complete dining sessions (about 12 in a year) in order to qualify. In pre-war times a student barrister could qualify solely by eating dinners. The dinners are eaten in the hammer-beam main hall of Gray's Inn (rebuilt after the original was lost in the Blitz) and there is a still observed tradition that from sitting down till the coffee course nobody may leave the hall - however much you have drunk and need to empty your bladder. The theory is that it will prepare the student barristers for the long court sessions ahead when asking for a personal convenience break would be unthinkable.

External link

• Gray's Inn website