Legal language: barristers' glossary

Bar professional training course (BPTC): A one-year course that all aspiring barristers must complete after their law degree or conversion course. Formerly known as the Bar vocational course (BVC).

Call to the Bar: A formal ceremony following completion of the BVC/BPTC during which your Inn officially confers the title of barrister on you.

Chambers: Buildings in which barristers are based (NB chambers do not employ barristers; they are self-employed).

Conversion course: A one year course for graduates whose first degree isn't in law. Some are referred to as the CPE (common professional examination), others as the PgDL (postgraduate diploma in law) but essentially these are the same thing. 

Deviling: Doing paperwork for other members of chambers to use as their own. Sometimes paid, sometimes not. 

Employed Bar: A small minority of barristers are employed by companies (as opposed to being self-employed and practising from chambers). The Bar Directory, available online from the Legal Hub, contains a listing of barristers in employment and the posts they hold. However, pupillage places are few and far between.

First six and second six: Pupillage is usually divided into two distinct six-month periods. During the first six you will assist your pupil supervisor; during the second six you may be able to take on small cases of your own.

The Inns of Court: A collective term for four institutions: Middle Temple, Inner Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn. They are voluntary societies that provide education, support and facilities to their members. You have to join an Inn by 30 June in the year you start your BPTC but it's highly advisable to do so before.

Pupillage: A 12-month 'apprenticeship' period in chambers after the BVC/BPTC. Provided you compete this successfully you will be awarded the full practising certificate by the Bar Council and will be free to build your own practice.

Pupil supervisor: A barrister who acts as your mentor during pupillage. You will shadow your pupil supervisor, get their papers and go to court with them.

Squatting: The practice of staying 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, eg they are required to have their own insurance.

Tenants: Barristers based in a particular set of chambers (so called because they must pay rent). You can apply for tenancies once you have completed your pupillage. 

Third six: After completing the traditional 12-month stint it's not uncommon to be unable to secure a tenancy. For this reason some pupils find themselves becoming a third-sixer, ie continuing to work for a further six months in a similar vein to the second six. This can be either in the same or a different set of chambers.