Boost your work experience before applying for pupillage
Competition for pupillage is immense. One of the main criteria your application will be judged on is your work experience so it’s vital to make sure you’ve got this in order before you even consider applying.
The quantity of your experience may have some influence but quality and variety are much more important. Generally speaking, an impressive candidate is one who has taken three or four mini-pupillages, gained other forms of legal experience (if possible including time spent with a solicitors’ firm) and can show evidence of some sort of experience or interests outside the law.
Mini-pupillages
Mini-pupillages are short periods of time (generally between three days and one week) spent shadowing barristers in chambers. They may involve attending court and conferences (meetings with solicitors and lay clients), completing small research or paperwork tasks and discussing your supervisor’s current cases.
What is an assessed mini-pupillage?
If you undertake an assessed mini-pupillage your performance will be formally judged (for example via an exercise on which you are marked and a written assessment by your supervisor). These details will be taken into consideration if you apply for pupillage at that set. Some sets use assessed mini-pupillages as part of the recruitment process.
Different sets have different policies as to who can apply for mini-pupillage. Almost all will specify that you must have at least started an undergraduate degree. A number will specify that you must be in at least a certain year of study, and some will ask that you have completed at least a minimum amount of legal study (for example that you are in your second or third year of a law degree or have started a conversion course).
Check with individual sets before you apply to make sure that you are eligible. Application processes also vary. Most sets request a CV and covering letter but others will have an online or paper application form. Some will interview you before offering you a place; others will accept or reject candidates on the basis of their application alone.
Ask questions, but at the right time
It’s crucial to make the most of your mini-pupillages and to create a good impression regardless of whether they are being officially ‘assessed’ or not. Take the opportunity to learn as much as you can about the set, its work and life as a barrister in general. Feel free to ask questions about the work you encounter but save them for appropriate times – not in front of solicitors or clients, in court, or when the barrister you are shadowing is clearly busy.
Make notes on your mini-pupillage
Keep notes or a diary of your time in chambers, recording whom you sat with, what work you were involved with and any cases you saw in court. If you are offered pupillage interviews – whether at that set or elsewhere – you are very likely to be asked about the work you encountered on your mini-pupillages and it won’t go in your favour if you can’t remember.
Be professional during your work experience at the Bar
As regards your general behaviour, remember to act professionally at all times. Arrive on time, don’t leave without completing any work you’ve been asked to do, dress appropriately and be polite to everyone. Try to show enthusiasm for the experience and for any tasks you are given and – unless it really can’t be avoided – don’t take time off. Even if you’ve decided by the end of the week that you don’t want to apply for pupillage at that set you’re still likely to get the most out of the experience if you adopt a positive attitude – and remember that the Bar is a small place, so you never know when your path may cross with that of someone from the set in question.
How do you decide where to apply for mini-pupillage?
It’s wise to apply for mini-pupillages with sets that work in different areas, even if you think you know which type of law you’d like to practise in. You may find that the reality of working in a certain area is very different from how you imagined it and that subjects you enjoyed studying on your course don’t interest you in practice (and vice versa). Experiencing different types of sets will also show recruiters that you’ve explored the options available and are in a good position to judge that you’d prefer to work for their sort of set rather than in another area. However, do try to make sure that you’ve done at least one mini-pupillage in the area that you eventually decide to go for.
How many mini-pupillages should you do?
Don’t think that you can impress recruiters by taking a large number of mini-pupillages for the sake of it. Three or four is a good number; more than six may start to look pointless. However, one exception to this is with assessed mini-pupillages. Some sets require you to take an assessed mini-pupillage with them before you can be considered for pupillage, or as part of the pupillage interview process (normally between first and second interviews). If you are applying for pupillage with sets that have such requirements this is likely to rack up the number of mini-pupillages you have do.
