At my last but one interview, one of the interviewing panel sat throughout my interview reading his papers and writing out his cross exam or submissions! Needless to say I wasn’t offered pupillage.

I heard that one of the companies that provides judical appointments training is now offering pupillage interview training. Going to give that a shot as I am becoming desparate.

Keep up the good work! We need it.

Michael

There is an interesting article by Tim Lawson Cruttenden in this week’s Law Society Gazette on solicitor advocates. He wonders if the Law Society should become a “fifth Inn” re advocacy training or whether SAs should be allowed/required to join an Inn and undertake their training there. I have the feeling the profession will become effectively fused sooner rather than later… In a battle between the SRA and the Bar Standards Board – as Alex Ferguson might say – I hope they both lose.

You may also be aware that the QLTT is becoming the QLTS http://bit.ly/cs2vrv and that anyone wanting to pursue this route should get their skates on.

Thanks for linking and reminding about the pupillage timetable!

Having read your lastest Blog posting, I can’t help but feel appalled. Whilst I wouldn’t ever want to be accused of openly besmirching the particular Chambers you approached, attitudes such as the one you experienced are totally unacceptable not to say, indefensible. I have to say, if I were to experience an episode such as this, my first port of call would be to rport the incident to the Head of Chambers – voicing my contempt and then to the Bar Standards Board. I would also politely point out that ageism of this sort might very well adduce liability vis-a-vis the Equality Act would which not bode well for practitioners of the law.

As a fellow mature student, (I’m 37 having elected to change direction and pursue a career at The Bar) I confess to being worried about experiencing this sort of discrimination but I take heart from the fact that of the several senior QCs and judges I have spoken to directly on this subject, they have all said without any degree of equivocation, that my maturity as well as life experience is a positive asset rather than a handicap and any reasonably enlightened Chambers will recognise this.

Keep looking.

Best of luck,

William

Education details
Employment history
Skills
Professional qualifications
Positions of responsibility, prizes and awards
Interests and recreational activities
Additional information / Covering Letter
Why do you wish to become a barrister?
What areas of law interest you?
What type of practice are you interested in and why?
Give reasons for your choice of chambers.
What do you hope to gain from your pupillage?
How do you hope to contribute to your future chambers?
Why do you believe you will make a good barrister?
Please identify any experiences / skills gained that you believe may help you in your career.

Hope it helps.
Justin T

I am disappointed but somehow not surprised by the wholly inappropriate ageist comment. It’s right up there with, “shouldn’t a nice girl like you be looking for a husband”.

What planet are these knuckle-heads on?

I’m not sure the Bar will survive the 21st century.

Justin T

My pupillage applications were terrible. Mostly, my apps just got ignored. A few chambers gave me interviews, I suspect more because they recognised a correlation between my name and that of a local firm rather than because they thought I was any good.

One set offered me a second six and I accepted, although I never found a first six and never heard from them about it again!!

I only ever studied the Bar because I wanted to be a lawyer and wasn’t bothered whether it was a solicitor or barrister. I took the Bar bcause switching from that to being a solicitor is very easy and I can count my seniority from Call rather than qualification!

I did a 6 month training contract after the Law Society kindly exempted me from the other 18 months and got my higher rights 6 months after being admitted.

Personally, I’d recommend becoming an HCA, you get a salary and a percentage of the brief fees so you can get the best of both worlds.

There is one other method you could use for pupillage, worked for me but I turned it down because I was still quite stupid at the time. I did one of the training the trainer sessions offered by Middle. Presumably I did a good job in my cross-exam because I got a round of applause from the watching Silks, one commented that he couldn’t have done better and another took me to lunch and offered me pupillage in his Chambers in Manchester! Being a London boy and having a girlfriend here I turned him down. Do not underestimate the power of good networking away from work where you’re joining in with something that the top bods want to do and actually helping them!!

If you’re really dedicated to the Bar then good luck to you.