From graduate to barrister: how to get in

Everything you need to know about qualifying as a barrister, finding pupillage vacancies and working life at the Bar. Whether you want to know about pupillage awards, Pupillage Portal applications or how to become a barrister if you are not a law graduate, you can find answers to key questions here.

BAR JARGON: pupillage, the Bar professional training course, chambers, tenancy, the employed Bar… For more analysis go to the glossary of Bar jargon

A career as a barrister entails providing specialist legal advice and representing clients in court. Most barristers are self-employed but operate collectively from organisations known as ‘chambers’ or ‘sets’. A small number work in-house for companies or solicitors’ firms (known as the ‘employed Bar’) or for the Government Legal Service or Crown Prosecution Service. Graduates from any degree background can become a barrister; however, you’ll need to complete at least one year of further study first (see below), then look for a one-year training place – known as pupillage – in chambers or with another approved provider. Most chambers’ pupillage recruitment programmes are annual, sometimes recruiting graduates as much as two years in advance.

Training as a barrister

If you’re a non-law graduate interested in a career as a barrister, you need to take a law conversion course, known as the common professional examination (CPE) or the graduate diploma in law (GDL). These tend to take one year full time. Alternatively, a few institutions offer a two-year masters’ course, which goes into more depth. Both law graduates and non-law graduates must then take the Bar professional training course (BPTC), formerly known as the Bar vocational course (BVC), which lasts one year full time. The next step is to complete your pupillage year at a barristers’ set, during which you will shadow an experienced barrister and possibly take on your own cases. Once you have completed pupillage you will need to find a set to take you on permanently – this is known as ‘tenancy’.

Pupillage applications

Many chambers’ graduate recruitment programmes operate 18 months to two years in advance so you’ll probably want to start applying for pupillage during the final year of your law degree or during your conversion course. Begin researching pupillage providers by picking up a copy of TARGETjobs Law from your university careers service or law department, then visit pupillageportal.com, the home of the Pupillage Portal online pupillage application system (formerly known as OLPAS). The website provides a directory of all chambers’ pupillage vacancies and application methods. You can apply to up to 12 Pupillage Portal chambers and make one clearing application using the website. You can apply to as many non-Pupillage Portal chambers as you like.

Many sets offer students the opportunity to do a mini-pupillage, which is a chance to see what barristers’ jobs are really like by spending a few days in a set. They also let chambers find out about prospective pupils. Some sets run ‘assessed’ mini-pupillages, and tend to only accept pupillage applications from those who have done one.

How much do barristers earn?

During your pupillage year you’ll receive a ‘pupillage award’ – in effect, a salary – from your set. In May 2010 the Bar Standards Board announced that the minimum chambers are allowed to offer should rise from £10,000 to £12,000. However, many sets pay much higher amounts – in some cases over £40,000 – which compare very favourably with graduate starting salaries in other career sectors. Once you become a tenant you’ll be self-employed and won’t receive a regular pay-check. Finances may take a little juggling in the first few years as there is inevitably a gap between billing for work and receiving fees; however, your earning potential will grow rapidly in your first few years. Criminal law is perhaps the least lucrative area but it’s not exactly a pittance. Earnings in commercial and chancery sets can be astronomical: in 2005–06, 30 barristers earned more than £1 million, while six tax specialists took home more than £2 million.