News, Tenancy and Pupillage Interviews

Preparing for that all important pupillage interview

As is usual at this time of year, eyes are firmly focused upon the ‘Pupillage Portal’ to see if any updates have been placed upon the applicants sent submissions.  Interestingly, I have noted that my first ‘Rejected’ note appeared and no notification was forwarded from the ‘Pupillage Portal’. With this in mind, my suggestion is to keep a daily online check to view any changes that may have arisen.

Turning for a moment to those who have already attained pupillage, I note that several chambers are currently seeking barristers.  12KBW are seeking barristers to be based in Bristol for fixed term tenancies and applications for these roles are being taken throughout June.  Keating Chambers is inviting applications for membership from established practitioners on or before 17th June, whilst 8 New Square are seeking to recruit barristers of up to 8 years of call and applications must be received by 30th June.  Finally, 9 Stone Buildings are currently seeking a new junior tenant to join Chambers in October of which applications close on 10th June.

With the interview season nearly upon us, I thought in this entry I would give some thoughtful suggestions towards this often daunting process. In short it is important if called for interview that you have a thoroughly good knowledge of current events of both the area of practice you seek to enter and events at the Bar, whilst also ensuring that you have a reliable handle on how any interview should be conducted. For a heads up on the rules of engagement for interview, please take some time to read and become familiar with the A – Z of Must Know Pupillage Guidelines listed to the left.  Remember, interviews can go wrong and my cautionary tale of this can be read at ‘Pupillage Interviews from ‘The Pupillage Blog‘. On that note, a word of thanks to CharonQC for highlighting this cautionary tale on his blog last week.

Regular readers of ‘The Pupillage Blog’ will be aware of a new section entitled ‘Chambers Legal Commentary’. This growing commentary of expert opinion via links directly to chambers newsletters will help enormously in the preparation for any impending interview.  Each newsletter provides expert opinion on current case law and specific legal commentary upon legislation within a wide area of differing legal fields.  Turning to Family Law, there is an excellent publication not listed in CLC entitled the Family Law Week Newsletter.  This newsletter is produced monthly and it addresses in copious detail all the topical family case law and legislation of the previous month, again I must emphasise that this is certainly worth reading if this is to be your chosen direction as an advocate.

Finally, I would like to recommend two excellent online articles.  Firstly, Sarah Fahy of St Ives Chambers has produced a succinct appraisal of the new offences against the person sentencing guidelines, which comes into effect on the 13th June.  Sarah has penned a clear and unfettered approach to this new legislation which makes these new sentencing guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council readily understandable for all practitioners who will be duty bound to address the new offences of assault.  The second recommended article is penned by criminal barrister Felicity Gerry, who has written a compelling article for the Solicitors Journal entitled ‘In these shoes?’  This feature, a must read for any pupil, recalls Felicity’s first steps at the Bar and her experiences through pupillage.

So until next time, good luck with all those interview preparations.

As always,
Justin Time

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