Anonymous Coffeemaker

I've been reading a new blog lately called BabyBarista, which blogger BabyBarista describes as "a fictional account of a pupil barrister undergoing the trials of pupillage at the English Bar." I lived in the UK for a time, and I love it. I heartily recommend it.

BabyBarista's blog is quintessentially British, in a very modern way: eloquently verbose, cutting, witty in the extreme. In the short time it's been online it has garnered significant readership. I see it as a UK counterpart to Jeremy Blachman's US-based Anonymous Lawyer. Like Anonymous Lawyer, BabyBarista's blog is populated by characters with clever nickames such as "Teflon" and "Worrier," so perhaps this similarity is intentional. However, it should be noted that BabyBarista's nicknames are characteristically British in their understatement--in stark contrast to Anonymous Lawyer's wonderfully blunt nicknames like "the Jerk," "the Bombshell," and the ever-classic "Young Guy Badly Hiding Your Impending Baldness." Should we be looking for a novel soon?

US readers should pay particular attention to the fact that BabyBarista's fictional challenges and travails are quite literally the same as those faced by lawyers on this side of the pond: billing by the hour, poor mentoring, working with abnormal people, intolerance and impatience, burnout, lack of idealism, etc. Perhaps it's comforting, since misery loves company. Then again, perhaps not.