Huddled together in the echoing, cathedral-like precincts of the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ), a tour group listens in semi-hushed reverence as Blue Badge guide Joanne Lee talks them through visitor etiquette.

Having already explained that anybody caught taking a selfie is likely to face summary eviction, she goes on to point out that, while outsiders are allowed into the courtrooms themselves, talking, eating and drinking are forbidden.

“I once had a client who took a sip of water in a magistrates’ court,” she cautions, “The judge shouted at them, ‘This is not a café!’ And you don’t want to be told off by a judge.”

Lee is aware of that better than most, perhaps. Before changing career to become a tour guide she spent 16 years working as a criminal defence lawyer (she still holds a practicing certificate).

She does not, however, miss being woken up in the middle of the night to represent the recently arrested. “One good thing about guiding is that my clients are actually happy to be with me,” she says.

Lee qualified at a Blue Badge guide (the Blue Badge is the UK’s most prestigious tourist guide qualification) in 2009, attending regular classroom and practical sessions over the course of two years.

“My plan was to continue practicing law and to do guiding on the side,” says Lee. Circumstances soon overtook that idea, however. “In 2011 there was a court closure programme and the courts in which I was working were shut down,” she says. “I either had to find legal work somewhere else or become a full-time guide.”

What helped her make her decision was the 2012 London Olympics, which brought with it an influx of visitors to the capital and helped her get the business off the ground.

Avoiding arbitration

Among Lee’s Blue Badge classmates in 2009 was Imogen Rumbold, who combines tour guiding with a role as a partner in specialist shipping law firm Lax & Co. While at university Rumbold spent time working for a company that ran tours for American students, but had never really considered guiding as a profession, instead she was called to the Bar before practising as a solicitor.

She says: “I was thinking about what I’d like to do when I retired that didn’t involve law and arbitrating – which is what tends to happen to former shipping solicitors. Well, that didn’t appeal to me, so I decided to go back to something else I knew I could do.”

Combining studying for the Blue Badge qualification with family life and a full-time job proved at times tricky, however.

“It was very challenging,” Rumbold adds, “I had to be very precise about what I could learn, because I only had a limited amount of time in a day, but in some ways that made it less challenging for me than those with a bit more time who felt they had to learn absolutely everything.”

It was all made worthwhile, though, when she pinned on that coveted Blue Badge for the first time.

“It’s very much the gold standard of guiding and there are some places – such as the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey – where you can only guide if you have one,” she explains.

While she is well-versed in the facts and figures of such big-name London sites, Rumbold is also something of an expert in crafting itineraries for legally themed tours.

“Lots of people think they’d like to go to the Old Bailey. They’ll have read books by Agatha Christie or other authors and they’ll want to see it for themselves, but it’s actually a difficult place to visit; you can’t take in phones for example, and the visitors’ gallery might be shared with the defendant’s family so you don’t want to cause any confrontation.”

American interest

Among Rumbold’s clients are a sizeable segment of American lawyers, keen both to see the sights relating to some of their nation’s founding fathers and to gain insights into the legal system of the former colonial power.

“They’re sometimes quite surprised by what they find out, particularly if they work in criminal law,” she says, “For example, they often think it strange we’ve got rid of the law against double jeopardy or that the state or prosecuting counsel can ask for an increase in the term of a prison sentence if they think a judge has been too lenient.

“I think secretly they are also rather amazed by the fact that, if a client specifically tells a client they’re guilty, but they want to run a not guilty plea, then the lawyer can’t act for them. This idea that a lawyer’s duty, especially a solicitor’s duty, is first to the court and then to the client sometimes causes surprise.”

And it isn’t only lawyers from across The Pond who are interested in finding out more about the English justice system while they’re on their travels.

Former barrister turned Blue Badge guide Emma Matthews has also found herself leading tours for Chinese legal professionals.

“I think they sometimes find it all a bit baffling,” she says. “They want to look at our system to see if there are things that we do that could be of use to them. They tend to be government bureaucrats and coming from a very different angle, but they’re very keen to learn.”

Also eager to gain insights are those who might be considering a legal career.

“I talk about how the training works, the daily life of barristers and solicitors and how our profession is still split,” explains Matthews.

“I really like to take groups of younger people who might think the law is not for them and that the Bar, in particular, is something very elite and closed. I like to debunk some of the myths and explain it’s open to everyone.”

Sharing understanding

Matthews agrees that the RCJ has a wow factor for many visitors, partly because it clearly demonstrates the legal system in action.

“A lot of people don’t even realise that the courts are public and they can go in. It’s very rewarding to explain to them how the courtroom works; the design and the theatre of it all. They’re often amazed by how interesting it is.”

The other show-stopper for visitors lies just across the road, adds Mitchell Cregor, who worked as a Crown Prosecutor before attaining the Blue Badge.

“People are amazed to walk down one of those little alleyways off the Strand and suddenly find themselves in this whole different world.”

He’s talking, of course, about the Inns of Court. “Many visitors who’ve been to London a few times before will say they’re interested in seeing ‘hidden’ London. Well, the area really meets that brief, because you can walk past it so easily.

“There is so much within the small area that comprises the Middle Temple and Inner Temple,” he adds, “and it’s much broader than just the legal profession. There are the connections with the medieval Knights Templar, while the Fire of London and the Blitz both touched the area. In a way, it provides a microcosm of the story of London as a whole.”