Research the chambers . Tip 3: Be ready to talk about things on your CV in more detail, and also to explain any gaps there may be on your CV. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form. Most experience of life, even if not obviously relevant to practice at the bar, is a learning experience, and could help the panel get to know you as a person. Do not come up to a Set which you think specialises in Banking Law but actually does more Clinical Negligence. I feel strongly that the profession needs to change the way it operates and recruits because of the young talent it ultimately passes by, and I feel that making personalised feedback mandatory for candidates who have secured an interview, would be one very small way of changing it for the better. It is truly amazing how many people care, want to make the Bar more accessible and took the time out of their busy days (despite some having trials!) No legal questions or knowledge required. we gear our entire lives around trying to secure one. The list of questions you could face is illustrative and not exhaustive, so you must be ready for anything. Have something interesting to say when . It sets a unique ID to embed videos to the website. Tip 2: It can be a daunting experience to be presented in front of a panel of barristers asking questions. And think about the type of client you are advising just a solicitor or an experienced company director, or an ordinary person who will need legal terms explaining. Instead, you will be expected to present a logical, well-presented and well-structured argument to address a hotly debated topic relating to law. Interview panels are looking for hard evidence that you can handle yourself under pressure. Pupillages are generally offered almost 18 months in advance of their start dates. The instructions vary on the chambers and the types of problems that they set. When answering this question, you must make it personal to you and immediately refer to your experiences to back up your reasons for wanting to be a barrister. Have you applied for pupillage but feeling unsure about what the interview process will be like?In this video, you will receive advice from members of Coram . I am not apologetic in saying that to you because the one thing you are going to have to demonstrate if you want to be a barrister is that you are self-directed, self-motivated and independent learner who is prepared to seek out information yourself and then apply it to the courts. However, as long as you prepare properly for a pupillage interview, there's always a chance that you're the lucky applicant. When the Pupillage Gateway slams shut and chambers began reading the mass of application forms electronically thrust before them in a bid to sift, sort and filter into a carefully selected list of the chosen few who they want to meet in person. Forget clich and invention and speak plainly. They are invaluable to obtain real time feedback. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. Chambers also look for commitment to the sector in which they practise (eg, clear evidence of an interest in criminal law). Can you think logically and present your arguments succinctly and persuasively? I cross my fingers and toes and hope that as many of my applications as possible end up in that first and smallest pile - the interview pile. I think the answer is to bear in mind that what the panel is interested in is not what you think but how you think. For all the latest commercial awareness info, and advance notification of Legal Cheek's careers events: Follows letter from wannabe barrister first reported by Legal Cheek, Aspiring barrister Noah Gifford describes common practice among chambers as insulting in open letter. The cookie is set by the email marketing service MailChimp. Ask for the question to be repeated and drink some water to give yourself a little time to compose yourself and think about your answer. Go through your whole form, identify all the points you might be asked to elaborate on (these will be points which relate to the selection criteria), and do this for every single one. Impact: the way in which you express and handle yourself during interview. The first point to make about the Constable Quotient is that thats alotof nerves. Read and reread your application form. I just dont seem to have any. The response was incredible. Many will have impressive previous careers, either in law or outside, and as a twenty-something BPTC graduate, it is easy to be gripped by inferiority. Read the Bar Code of Conduct, in the BSB Handbook, available from the BSB. In fact, the very best advice it has to offer in these situations is to be found on the cover. Be prepared, particularly during the second round, for a panel of four . This is not intended to be a trial by ordeal where they are being mean to advocates to see what ability they have to withstand difficult situations. There will be a lot of law chat. On 25 May I then received a response which stated that the chambers could not offer any feedback, except to say that 2 of the applicants were a little better and they were successful. As a result, chambers can be highly individualistic. A chambers interview panel may ask this question to get an understanding of your views on the Bar and what the future holds for the legal profession. This article was written by Lawrence Horner, head of employability services atThe University of Law. . Be careful with what you put out there. I do not mean you shouldn't prepare for the interview and give it your best, but the outcome is out of your control. Practise on demonstrating those in interview. Applying for pupillage has dominated my Januarys and Februarys for the past two years and I wanted to share one incredibly frustrating experience I have had following the latest round of applications/interviews. Practical exercises based around legal problems are quite common, according to feedback we receive from students. Make sure to structure these answers and give a clear outline of your arguments. Two stages for the interview process: 1) Written test - Choose one question from three legal questions and answer it in essay format - Answer must be sent via email within 30 minutes of receiving it 2) Virtual interview - Two interviewers who are partners at the firm . The Bar is not the be-all and end-all. When it makes a good story. According to The Inner Temple, this is a genuine question asked by some chambers interview panels. Well the Pupillage gateway website has opened for viewing. PDF PUPILLAGE: HOW TO APPLY - The Kalisher Trust Prepare for this by thinking about how barristers you may have seen in mini-pupillages did this, and what you would change about that. Presidents of University Law Societies are ten-a-penny. They know what they do. Pupillage Interviews: Top Tips - 5 Pump Court There may be other reasons for it, but sometimes we just do not spot your potential. Some pupillage interview feedback. Chambers usually know this a week before your interview. Pupillage interviews - Chambers Student Guide Competency is not all about how you perform as a barrister, its also about how you react in the face of adversity. And at the criminal Bar, whatever brickbats we throw at the system and the punitive lifestyle the Bar engenders, life is never, ever dull. The best way to demonstrate these abilities is to use the S-T-A-R method: Situation Its important to give a structured answer, first outlining the situation you faced as a team. Upcoming pupillage interview? | Inner Temple Here is a short list of competencies for the Bar: Getting into the Bar requires resilience, adaptability and determination. Many will have Masters degrees. What is a CPS Pupillage and How Do I Get One? In two days of this article being released, we had over 2000 views and several messages saying it was some of the most detailed pupillage advice the pupillage hopefuls had seen. A few nerves are good for your performance. Find an area of law or a case within the last year which is problematic and . When you spend countless hours writing and reviewing applications, preparing for interviews, and then waiting anxiously to hear back from chambers, I feel that providing feedback to candidates that are unsuccessful at interview (particularly a second-round interview), should be a minimum requirement. So, for every single pupillage interview you have, really think about who is on the receiving end and prepare with that in mind. Your CV counts for absolutely nothing when youre sitting in a cell opposite a screaming heroin addict who has stabbed his cellmate in the eye and is threatening to exact upon you his frustration that his solicitor hasnt been to visit him. And dont give up on your passion, no matter what happens. That is unavoidable. He completed the bar course with BPP University last year and aspires to become a barrister. Together, we essentially shared our Dos and Donts of Pupillage Applications (which can be accessed here). Make sure to ask for feedback. Linked to the foregoing, make sure you have prepared to talk about something anything that is not law. You might be asked to give your view on a current legal issue whichyoufind interesting (ie you pick the specific topic). Bring your personal and family life experiences to interview and into your Result Lastly, tell the interview panel about the results of your actions and what those results say about you as a candidate. I genuinely dont think hobbies etc make a difference (except maybe if theyre done to a really high level, and even then, imo they only make a difference on the paper sift). They know what is on their website. Smile. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. You will need to demonstrate that you can answer without using jargon to ensure that you are fully understood. Tip 4: As difficult as it is, do not care about the outcome. The purpose of this cookie is to synchronize the ID across many different Microsoft domains to enable user tracking. The post Aspiring barrister uses GDPR regs to secure pupillage interview feedback appeared first on Legal Cheek. You must join an inn before you qualify as a barrister. It seems that it is equally applicable to pupillage interviews. LOLZ! You will deserve everything you get. Note from Arooj: other resources include reaching out to organisations such as Bridging the Bar and BME Legal. The ANONCHK cookie, set by Bing, is used to store a user's session ID and also verify the clicks from ads on the Bing search engine. I was so bad because I thought I had the answers in my head, but I had not practised getting them out. This is useful not just in increasing your knowledge of the chambers and its members, but in particular, it builds up a confidence that you have a better base to answer questions from. Don't be too arrogant "when I get pupillage here I will". Im a commercial chancery barrister who has done first round pupillage interviews in the past, and while I agree with much of this, I have a different perspective on a few points. Pupillage Interviews (Part 2): Top Tips from Established Practitioners and Juniors at the Bar, The Do's and Don'ts of Pupillage Applications, TRAINING CONTRACT APPLICATIONS AND WHERE TO START, RESOURCES FOR APPLYING TO Clifford Chance, INFORMATION FOR FOREIGN QUALIFIED LAWYERS, Pupillage Interviews (Part 1): Top Tips from Eight Silks. None of you are likely to be a senior judge in junior form. Receiving an invitation to an interview creates the initial . Nor do I think it would take an unreasonable amount of time to send the notes made by the panel (at the very least), to those who ask for them.