How to become a barrister
I have had lots of questions recently about the timeline for becoming a barrister and the steps involved so I have created some Q&A style questions with all the information you need. If you have any further questions please either message the Law Careers Instagram (@ussu.lawcareers) or email me directly cl01637@surrey.ac.uk.
Best wishes – Chelsea Lewin, Law Careers Officer
Route 1 – Law students
- Law degree
- Join an Inn of Court
- Bar Practice Course (with or without masters)
- Call to the bar
- Pupillage
- Qualification
Route 2 – Non-Law students
- Any degree
- Law Conversion Course
- Join an Inn of Court
- Bar Practice Course (with or without masters)
- Call to the bar
- Pupillage
- Qualification
How long would it take to qualify as a barrister?
Presuming you take the typical route through a law degree (3 years), the Bar Practice Course (1 year) and then undertake pupillage ( 1 year) you’re looking at being qualified within 5 years. If you are a non-law student then you will need to allow a further year to undertake the Post-Graduate Diploma in Law.
What is an Inn of Court?
Inns of court are professional institutions with the power to call you to the Bar. There are four Inns; Grays Inn, Inner Temple, Middle Temple and Lincolns Inn. Each Inn gives out millions of pounds worth of scholarships every year to aspiring barristers. Each Inn varies in size, and you should research each Inn and their scholarship requirements before joining one of these.
Each Inn run their own events and have societies you can join, they also provide volunteering opportunities, work experience and mentoring programmes.
How to join an Inn of Court?
You must pay to become part of an Inn of Court and this should be done at least three months before the start date of your bar training course.
You must pay to enter the Inns of court. Below is the following admission fees:
- Grays Inn costs £100
- Inner Temple costs £110
- Middle Temple £148
- Lincolns Inn £128
You must fill out an application form which will check that you meet the academic requirements (typically a 2:2) of the Inn and also be ‘fit and proper’ in accordance with Schedule 1 of the MOU. Below is a link to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Bar Standards Board and each of the four Inns of Court:
What is pupillage?
Pupillage is the 12-month training programme which a BPC graduate undertakes in order to qualify. The pupillage is split into two and the stages are referred to as ‘sixes’. So first you undertake your ‘first six’ which involves shadowing and observing barristers without practising the law in court and then move onto your ‘second six’. The second six is the practical side of training which allows you to handle your own caseload and appear in court on behalf of clients. You must successfully complete the whole year of pupillage to qualify and practice as a barrister. If a pupil is unfortunate enough to not pass, some chambers offer a ‘third six’ which can allow them to continue to qualification after a further 6 months.
A chambers will offer a pupillage award, the current range offered in London starts around £20,700 and goes up to £100,000 depending on the speciality. Most firms also allow pupils to be paid for their own cases in the second six which allows them to earn extra money on top of the pupillage award.
Sometimes if you secure pupillage before sitting the BPC, you may draw down some of the reward to help pay for your studying.
When to apply for pupillage:
Ideally you will begin looking at what is available at the start of your second year of the three-year degree and you should apply one year in advance to when you would be commencing your BPC.
How to get pupillage:
Most chambers accept applications for pupillage through the Pupillage Gateway, on this platform you may select up to twelve (12) chambers to apply too. The Gateway opens in January and closes in early February giving a short period of time to make your applications. You should begin planning your answers to generic pupillage questions early to ensure you’ve got a basis to go from when you fill out the applications which will have subject and chamber specific questions asked. The Gateway will open in November for browsing and preparing applications ahead of January.
Here are some questions you might expect to come across during the application process and some tips for the interview process:
https://www.innertemple.org.uk/news/upcoming-pupillage-interview/
https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/prepping-your-pupillage-interview-six-top-tips.html
Some chambers will accept direct applications through their website which will not count towards your 12 applications.
Despite having the opportunity to apply for 12 positions, the chambers are looking for quality, thorough and promising applications from students which reflect the skills, knowledge and interests they are looking for whilst demonstrating that the student has sufficiently researched the chambers. Less is more when it comes to these applications so ensure you select a couple of chambers you’d like to apply to and focus on submitting quality applications.
What is the pupillage selection process like?
Once the application deadline passes chambers will begin sifting through the applications, at the first round interview they will likely assess your personality and ensure you can hold an intelligent conversation, you may also be given a written assessment, this can be anything from a Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar test to asking you to summarise some key points for a client based on a contract.
The second round interview is likely to be in front of a panel of senior barristers (anywhere from 4-7 barristers) and will typically be given some sort of task involving a case study, advocacy exercise, or set of questions to prepare answers for ahead of the interview. Most of these interviews are focused on legal analysis and insight, they’re assessing whether you have the correct skills you need to succeed as a barrister. Both the first and second round interviews will usually occur between February and May.
Offer Day for the outcome of pupillage is usually the 6th of May. You will receive decisions from all chambers through the gateway on this date. It is not uncommon to not secure a pupillage in your firs round – use you experiences to reflect and improve and get ready for the next application cycle.
I hope these questions were helpful to you, shortly i’ll also be publishing a blog post about how to research chambers and how to prepare for making your applications. In the meantime if you’d like to ask anything or discuss either of these career paths please feel free to reach out via instagram @ussu.lawcareers or email cl01637@surrey.ac.uk