How pupillage works
Pupillage is a 12-month training period for those aiming to qualify as barristers, usually spent in a barristers’ chambers (aka ‘set’). It is divided into two distinct six-month periods. During the ‘first six’ you will shadow the cases of an experienced barrister; in the ‘second six’ you may take on work of your own.
You’ll be known as a pupil and receive funding from your set. Some pupils spend the whole 12 months at one chambers; others complete their first six and second six at different sets.
When do I take pupillage?
Before you can become a pupil you’ll need to have completed either a non-law degree and a law conversion course, or a law degree, then taken the Bar professional training course (BPTC), formerly known as the Bar vocational course (BVC). Law students should apply for pupillage during the final year of their degree; non-law students in their conversion course year. However, if you’re not successful at this point you can keep trying.
What is the process of applying for pupillage?
Many chambers accept pupillage applications only through a centralised online application system called the Pupillage Portal (formerly known as OLPAS); others receive them directly from candidates (eg as CVs and covering letters, employer applications forms (EAFs) or via their own online application systems). The Pupillage Portal system has one application season, which starts in March and closes in late April or early May, and a clearing system, which opens in September and ends in October.
You can apply to up to 12 Pupillage Portal chambers as well as making a clearing application. You’re free to apply to as many non-Pupillage Portal sets as you like. Relevant information on the Pupillage Portal, chambers’ application requirements and recruitment processes can be found at pupillageportal.com and in the Pupillages Handbook, available at your careers service or from the TARGETjobs National Pupillage Fair.
Are all training places in barristers' chambers?
Almost all pupillages are to be found in barristers’ chambers, although there are a handful at the employed Bar, which is when you work in-house for companies, firms, charities or the Government Legal Service. You will need to check, however, that these organisations are currently recruiting.
Many chambers offer pupillages for the full 12 months; others will allow you to complete just one six-month period with them if you wish, while a few only offer first six or only second six pupillages. If you feel like doing something a bit different, there are a number of forms of work experience that can count as time served for the second six. See the Bar Standards Board website for more details.
Do be aware that the process of becoming a barrister in Scotland is very different from in England and Wales and requires you to have an undergraduate degree in Scottish law. See the Law - Scotland section on TARGETjobs and the Law Society of Scotland website for more details.
Can I do a part-time pupillage?
It’s not normally possible to complete a pupillage part time: Bar Council regulations state that you should work a minimum of 35 hours a week. However, this requirement can be waived in exceptional circumstances – contact the training regulations officer for more information.
What does pupillage involve?
When you start in chambers you’ll be assigned a ‘pupil supervisor’ who will act as your mentor. You will shadow them, do research and paperwork for them, go to court with them and probably share their office. (NB in some sets you may be rotated round several pupil supervisors so as to experience a broader range of practice areas.)
In your second six you’re officially allowed to take your own cases but whether you actually do so will depend upon the type of set you’re at. At criminal and common law sets there tend to be lots of small cases suitable for a second six pupil but in commercial law chambers they tend to be too big and complex for this to happen so you’ll probably still spend most of your time assisting your pupil supervisor.
Is there any formal training during pupillage?
As well as your work in chambers you’ll also be required to attend training courses in advocacy and advice to counsel, which are run by the Inns of Court and the various (regional) circuits. You’ll also need to complete a forensic accountancy course either during pupillage or in your first three years of practice.
In addition, the specialist Bar associations have produced detailed checklists of the ground to be covered during pupillage. At the end of each six months your pupil supervisor must certify you have covered all points on the list satisfactorily.
Checklists exist for chancery law, commercial law, common law, criminal law and family law as well as more specialised areas of practice. Again, further information can be found at the Bar Standards Board website. Providing you complete the year successfully you will be awarded the full practising certificate by the Bar Council and will be free to build your own practice.
What happens next?
Once you’ve completed pupillage you’ll need to find yourself a tenancy – a permanent base from which to practice. Tenants are so called because, although they’re self employed, all barristers must belong to a chambers, where they pay a certain sum to cover rent, facilities and wages for support staff. Many barristers stay on at one of the sets where they were pupils but this is not always possible.
If you’re not lucky enough to find a tenancy straight away you may wish to consider either undertaking a third six or ‘squatting’. A third six entails working for a further six months in a similar vein to the second six, either in the same or a different set of chambers.
Squatting is the practice of staying on in chambers after pupillage but not as a tenant. Unlike third six pupils, squatters are responsible for themselves rather than under the wing of a pupil supervisor – for example they are required to have their own insurance. Whichever route you take after pupillage, all newly qualified barristers are required to complete the New Practitioners’ Programme, which involves 45 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) spread over the first three years.
