Tag Archives: Application forms

Vac Scheme Application Forms: It’s All About The ‘Challenging Situation’ Question

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Barrister-to-be OccupyTheInns shares his pupillage hunt wisdom with wannabe solicitors as they prepare to submit their vac scheme application forms before the 31 January deadline.

As I come to the end of an enormously fulfilling period assisting on an international human rights and sustainability project, and find myself looking forward excitedly to taking up pupillage in September, I think often of law students at home struggling to make their way in the world. This is the time, of course, that they must apply for those godforsaken vacation schemes.

I know the challenges facing them all too well having applied for numerous vacation schemes myself – and undertaken one at a very prestigious City law firm – before deciding to follow the path of the barrister. Therefore, I believe that I may be of some assistance...

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The Post-BPTC Files: Starting An Internship Aged 28 ‘Wasn’t The Life I’d Envisaged’ – But It Worked Out Alright

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Editorial note: Last month Gemma Amran turned the conventional pupillage hunt narrative on its head when she wrote about how not getting a pupillage hadn’t been such a bad thing for her. Here Gemma charts her journey from the BPTC to the European Commission.

During the year between graduating from university and studying the GDL, I applied to do an internship at the European Commission. Months of eager anticipation later, I received a rejection letter.

Fast forward five years: I had just finished the BVC (renamed the BPTC in 2010), I had no pupillage and was struggling to find employment. One late dewy summer afternoon as I sat in a London park contemplating my future, my head suddenly turned towards the horizon and a calm and soothing voice overwhelmed me, "Look to Europe," it said...

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Pupillage Portal Gets The Year And The Day Wrong As Chambers Make Their Graduate Offers

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There was widespread disbelief earlier this year when, for the first time in its three-year history, Pupillage Portal didn’t go down in the run up to the April 26 pupillage application deadline.

And there was more shock today when the site – which is rumoured to have been designed by Lord Neuberger during an introduction to the internet class – kept working as chambers made their pupillage offers.

But in facilitating this impressive outcome, the elite team of operatives responsible for maintaining Pupillage Portal let a couple of other things slip...

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‘Does Grindr Count As An Extra-Curricular Activity?’

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The other day, desperate for something memorable to put in the gaping 'outside interests' section of his training contract application form, law student @MoykeG tweeted: "Does Grindr count as an extra-curricular activity?"

With the TC application deadline upon us today, Auntie Em (aka Emily Jupp) advises:

Dear Moyke,

I have asked some friends about this Grindr thing, and, as I understand it, it's an application that allows wallflowers like yourself to meet other retiring types without the awkwardness of having to go through pub mating rituals...

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Allen & Overy Solicitor Says It’s OK To Lie On Your CV

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Allen & Overy solicitor Sheila Fahy has unwittingly provided wannabe magic circle lawyers with an insight into what they might be able to get away with in their applications.

Writing the other day in the FT, Fahy seemed to indicate that it was acceptable for hopefuls to make up fake info about hobbies they have never done – as they long as they don’t relate to a requirement of the job.

Allen & Overy were extremely impressed with Charles' broad range of extra-curricular interests

Fahy gave this example:

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