14 Nov 2016
How can you kick-start your career at the Bar? We spoke to three barristers at key stages of the recruitment process to find out how to succeed, starting with a new pupil.
How long did it take to secure a pupillage, and when did you decide to pursue a career at the Bar?
I decided before university that I wanted to be a barrister, but after speaking to lawyers in the family they advised me to study something else (I chose philosophy) and then convert. In 2005 I had decided to be a barrister, then gap year, university, law conversion, Bar. From there it took four years to get a pupillage.
How many applications did you make?
I didn’t apply in my first year, due to a lack of legal experience, then I applied through 2012-15. Each year I filled in 12 applications through the pupillage portal, and 7 or 8 of those with their own non-portal procedure. In my opinion the non-portal chambers are the ones who offer more flexibility, but all different types of chambers are present in both groups.
My success rate for interview was higher with non-portal applications – there’s much more opportunity to express yourself.
How did you choose where to apply?
I cut out the types of law I didn’t want to do first. It’s a lot like applying for university – where do you want to work, where do you think you’ll get in? Looking at existing tenants was helpful. For example, if you’re looking for a non-Oxbridge dominated chambers, that narrows down the field quite considerably!
Did you have coaching/practice for your interview? How did you prepare?
I had help with reading over applications, but there are lots of other things you can do. The first year I did nothing. My inn ran a pupillage foundation scheme where you could do practice interviews. That was the most helpful thing I did, but it’s only useful once you’ve already gone through a year of applications, as you’re looking at your previous forms to see what sounded good or bad. You have to have failed one round to give them something to work with.
How many interviews did you have?
Over the years I had three or four first-round interviews a year, 11 altogether. I had six second-round interviews, and ultimately three offers.
How did you stay positive/engaged/focused while you weren’t succeeding?
I wavered as much as anyone else, thinking it was never going to happen for me, but I was lucky because I was working as a case worker at a law centre, on housing advice. I had the luxury of already doing the very basics, and I knew I really enjoyed it. Without that, you might forget why you wanted to pursue it in the first place.
One of the big things chambers look at beyond academics is your commitment to the Bar. Experience is vital, but it’s very hard to get anything that is helpful and pays you while you’re applying.
Hiring barristers are reading 400-600 applications, most of which are really good and academically strong – you have to say something different
What do you think in your applications and interviews made you progress further?
It varies depending on the chambers. For some it was practice area experience: I applied to housing sets and doing lots of social housing work definitely got me my interviews there.
At another interview they asked me to tell them something interesting about myself. I started talking about making a friend’s wedding cake – previously I hadn’t had the guts to take some risks and talk about something non-law related, and you do need to make yourself stand out. What we were always told is these hiring barristers are reading 400-600 applications, most of which are really good and academically strong, so you have to say something different.
Did you change your approach as time went on?
Being braver in applications definitely helped, as I mentioned above. But as time went on I went from being very nervous to being very relaxed, when I started to realise that it might not happen. That meant I wasn’t uptight, and being more relaxed made chatting easier. They have to be convinced by you as a person. In the first few years they’re going to be paying for you to work, so they have to want to work with you as a person.
What was the hardest interview question?
I was given some information about nuisance, something I knew nothing about, and then a nursery rhyme. Old MacDonald was alleging nuisance by his animals. I had ten minutes to prepare a response, with no notes, and had to present an argument.
How did you choose between the chambers that offered you pupillage?
It was easy to decide in the end. One of them I wasn’t massively keen on, in terms of their areas of law. They did lots of legal aid which I couldn’t continue to do financially, and I’d done a lot of that kind of work already. Another had turned me down a lot previously.
What do you wish you had prepared differently?
I wish that when I was studying I’d made my CV a bit more attractive. Although grades are important, I wasn’t very interesting, legally speaking, once I’d finished my bar course, and I wasn’t ready to apply. That’s a common issue if you did the GDL and not a law degree. Realistically, a Russell Group 2:1 is the absolute minimum you need, and working harder and getting a first would have been useful. If you don’t have a first then you need a good reason, i.e. what else were you doing? Also, learning how to write the forms takes time – it is shrouded in mystery a bit.
What do you think of the application process for becoming a barrister? Is it efficient?
It’s not efficient. The bar is inefficient and will always be that way as long as everyone’s self-employed. Recruitment will never take priority. But some chambers are much more efficient than others. Some of the recruitment practices would shock other graduate recruiters, but where there’s no HR or anyone to deal with it that’s always going to be the case. Silent rejections are the pet peeve of every aspiring barrister – so much work goes into forms and you just hear nothing at all.
Is it fair?
It is very clear cut at the beginning what they’re looking for. Whether I agree with the basic criteria, I’m not sure: do you need to focus only on the absolute cleverest people? There are other attributes that can get lost in the process. In the last five years the process has become more transparent.
Would you recommend applying to the Bar?
That’s very hard to answer. If you want it, then do it, but you’ve got to be prepared to take the knock-backs. You’re allowed to feel upset and down when it goes wrong. But it’s not the be-all and end-all, and it is incredibly stressful. It’s not for everyone, and it doesn’t matter if it’s not for you.
Do you think it’s harder to become a barrister now than it was?
The profession is much more open than it used to be. It used to be people calling up their dad’s friends to get unpaid pupillages. Academics were less relevant than the old boy’s network, and your ability to work unpaid for a year. It’s much more open to everyone now, but it’s still hard due to the amount of unpaid work that’s required. If you aren’t working it’s hard to be going to mooting competitions every weekend. The Bar hasn’t found the right balance yet, but it’s getting better.
Our pupil barrister began her first six in October at a leading London commercial set.
