What to expect from your pupillage interview

Inviting you to interview gives the barristers involved in recruitment at a particular set or chambers the chance to get to know you and see what you are capable of. They’ll want to be sure you could work with them well into the future before investing time and money in training you.

Many sets will hold both first-round and second-round interviews (in some cases even a third round) and there are various components that you could encounter at any stage.

Typical pupillage interview tasks

Many chambers will give you a legal problem or question when you arrive that you must prepare to present in the interview: you might need to produce a short piece of written work that you will then be questioned about, prepare to argue a point as part of a formal advocacy exercise, or simply consider the relevant issues ahead of a discussion with the interviewers.

There’s also likely to be a discussion of more general legal matters (for example current legal affairs, procedural or ethical issues, or cases that you’ve already encountered, eg in a mini-pupillage or moot) and a chat about yourself and the experiences you’ve described in your application. Some sets will ask you to complete role plays, group tasks or stand-alone written exercises.

In addition, a number of chambers require you to take an assessed mini-pupillage with them as part of the recruitment process and even those that do not may ask you to spend a couple of days in chambers on a less formal basis if you are shortlisted but have not done a mini-pupillage there.

• Find out more about assessed mini-pupillage

Prove your career potential by keeping your nerve

You may find that there’s more than one interviewer but try not to let this faze you. Panel interviews can be fairer than one-to-ones, as decisions are based on more than one opinion. Practising barristers tend to play a leading role on chambers’ recruitment committees, but senior support staff may also be closely involved.

It’s unlikely that chambers will try any scare tactics on you or deliberately ask questions that they think you’ll struggle with. However, if they do, keep in mind that they’re probably looking to see how you react under pressure. Take a deep breath and do the best you can, then move on. If you’ve stayed calm and thought of something sensible to say they’re likely to be impressed.