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‘I start pupillage next month – any top tips?’

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By Legal Cheek on

24

Barrister-to-be seeks advice


In our latest Career Conundrum, a pupil barrister asks readers to share their best tips for making their training period run as smoothly as possible.

“Hi Legal Cheek. The email subject sort of it explains it. I am due to start pupillage next month in London and looking for some general advice on dos and don’ts from those who have been through it. Keen to hit the ground running and make a good impression, so any advice (general or otherwise) is most welcome. Thanks.”

If you have a career conundrum, email us at tips@legalcheek.com.

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24 Comments

Anon Pupil Supervisor

Write everything down. Take a note in every conference and hearing. In particular, take your own note of all feedback on your work given by your supervisor or other barristers. If feedback is given orally, email your note back to them afterwards and politely ask if they agree it. Organise your notes so you can check back on them – next time you do a piece of work, re-read your old feedback. If your supervisor sends you their own work, keep it (with their permission). Build your own repository of feedback, notes, and good examples of things. It’s hard to give advice about being a good pupil, but being a well-organised pupil with a decent filing system will help good pupils shine.

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(24)(1)

Junior junior junior

Depends a little on the area of law and the structure of your pupillage.

I can only speak from experience in crime but my top tip is be friendly with the solicitors (or more often paralegals) who send you the work in your second six. They’ll grow with you and you don’t always get a chance to re-impress your brilliance down the line once they’ve got preferred counsel and are sitting on better briefs. Don’t myopically only befriend the big dogs in chambers. Network network network.

My top civil friends seem to have these strange assessment procedures which are prioritised over bringing in and servicing work. That’s fine, just do the assessments and be nice!

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(12)(0)

Realist

(1) Think about your practice area.
(2) Then think about it for the next 5 years.
(3) Then 10 years.

As an ex barrister, I can attest that years can fly by at the Bar. You may find yourself doing a specific kind of work, even though you may not have sought it simply because it is paying / work is coming in so you do it. However it might typecast you. You need to know what you want to achieve, where you want to go and what you want in a career (in the law or otherwise). Otherwise, the Bar is a place where decades can seep through like water in your palms.

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(10)(0)

'Onest John

Work on the basis you know nothing about the law.

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(13)(0)

Oz Barristeer

Humility goes a long way. I went from a partner in a law firm to the Bar at 42 years of age. Started again at the bottom. Eighteen years later, and 35 years in aw, I still love my job. Although I do live in Sydney.

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(1)(0)

Scouser of Counsel

Be willing to do absolutely anything and don’t regard anything as beneath you.

This can include doing research for other members of chambers, making coffee/tea, fetching lunch/ dry cleaning for your supervisor.

Don’t offer an opinion unless asked.

Always look and seem interested.

Be seen to be the first to arrive in Chambers in the morning and the last to leave at night (if not in court).

If at a loose end (or even if not) knock on other tenant’s doors and ask if there’s any work you can do to assist them.

NEVER complain about anything if you want to get tenancy.

Once you’re a tenant it’s different.

It’s not like this in my current Chambers but certainly was in my first Chambers, and I hear anecdotally that this is still the case in some, so take the above as the starting point.

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(10)(11)

Baz

I would agree with all of this except: “Be seen to be the first to arrive in Chambers in the morning and the last to leave at night (if not in court).”

You never know what nutters are going to work in Chambers until midnight. Arrive before your supervisor and leave after them, unless told otherwise.

Remember it’s the steepest point of the learning curve and embrace that – don’t expect to know everything. At this point, you don’t even know what you don’t know. It will get easier in time.

Try and get along with people (this includes clerks and staff, obviously). Being authentic is far more effective (and sustainable) than brown nosing, but appear interested in evetything (spoiler – much of what is discussed won’t be particularly interesting but barristers for some reason love to talk about their run-of-the-mill cases).

This seems like a tall order, and a lot, but remember that pupillage is an entirely different experience from tenancy. Once you’re a tenant, and as you get more senior, you will have significantly more control over your working life (how much you work, how you work, where you work from etc).

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(6)(0)

Scouser of Counsel

For the down-voters (no offence taken)…

I set out above how it may well be for pupils.

I wasn’t suggesting that this is how it “should” be, just how it “is” in many sets.

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(6)(1)

FormerBarista

Agree with nearly all the points, having been a Pupil except:

Don’t offer an opinion unless asked.

– To clients? No. But always share your opinions or thoughts with your supervisor. You’d be surprised how much they value your insight.

Be seen to be the first to arrive in Chambers in the morning and the last to leave at night (if not in court).

– Yes but I find many more pupil supervisors and chambers to be more interested in getting the work done, and getting it done properly; as opposed to simply being the first in or last to leave. Most people at the Bar, I found, went home after 6.30pm or so to carry on at night if required. Pupils included. I found the Bar a place where presenteeism was not so required.

If at a loose end (or even if not) knock on other tenant’s doors and ask if there’s any work you can do to assist them.
– Within reason. Protect yourself / judge the room. Don’t lumber yourself with so much work that you cannot do it, or, you end up doing a half-witted attempt for everyone.

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(6)(0)

Baby Junior

The following tips are particularly true for second six pupils:

1) Be very proactive and responsive to instructing solicitors, even if you are given a very simple or low paid brief. First impressions count, and providing an attentive service can persuade your solicitors to give you repeat work (and better paid work).

2) Be friendly to your clerks. Clerks, particularly in a good set of chambers, can go above and beyond in terms of keeping you busy and helping you develop your practice. It is obviously a two-way street – sometimes the clerks might ask you for a favour (eg asking if you can pick up a last minute brief). Doing those favours can go a very long way in terms of building rapport with your clerks.

3) Join specialist bar associations / professional organisations for networking and CPD (eg Employment Lawyers Association if you’re practising employment).

4) Always be proactive in terms of business development/marketing. Attend chambers events. Stay in touch with your solicitors and invite them for a lunch or a coffee. Write case notes/articles, etc.

5) Look after yourself. The Bar is a very rewarding profession, but it can be very stressful and demanding. Embrace all the downtime you have – spend time with friends/family, go to the gym, travel… do whatever you can to unwind every now and then

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(10)(0)

Jack

1) Be very proactive and responsive to instructing solicitors, even if you are given a very simple or low paid brief. First impressions count, and providing an attentive service can persuade your solicitors to give you repeat work (and better paid work).

As an instructing solicitor, I endorse this comment. Very early on in my career I heard a phrase from a partner – ‘Crap barristers starve’ .

The ability of a young barrister or pupil to get on with solicitors and be a team player is incredibly important. We generally instruct barristers we like to work with. A clerk told me they don’t just look for brains on a stick. Same with solicitors. If you are approachable and responsive – you will quickly be talked about in the litigation department. You will start getting better work and rates.

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(4)(0)

Anon

Pupillage is a year-long interview. Treat it as such. Produce quality work, be respectful to everyone single person you meet (from tea lady to senior clerk), try to be flexible and accommodating, don’t whinge and moan, get to know as many members as you can, follow all the rules and try not to get in the way (when you are following your supervisor around it is easy to be a nuisance).

The rules for tenants and pupils are usually very different.

Pupils wear suits every day. Tenants wear what they want.

Pupils should be in chambers all day, every day. Tenants come and go as they please.

Pupils have to be nice to everyone and keep your head down. As a tenant you have more ability to tell people to jog on if they are being rude or unreasonable.

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(7)(1)

Senior Partner

Invest in a bespoke suit and buy a nice dress watch (PP or VC). This £40k investment will be worth it.

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(3)(26)

Anon

Learn how to touch type, make tea, be all things to all of the tenants, feign sincerity, and in your first six – watch and learn from other advocates, not just your pupil supervisor in all disciplines in all courts

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(1)(2)

Al

Say yes to any and every opportunity that comes your way. Especially in your second six.

So if someone asks you to cover a hearing or whatever, even if it’s in an area you hadn’t considered practicing in. Subject to your ability to competently do so of course. (We used to have a book called Fridd that was like an idiots guide to every conceivable form of hearing, not sure if it still exists).

But the worst that can happen is you’ll confirm it’s not an area for you. But you might well find that a field you hadn’t even considered turns out to be something you are good at, and really enjoy.

Keep in with the clerks, but don’t suck up to them. If you don’t like football don’t pretend you do.

Keep solicitors happy. They are less concerned about results and more about making their life easy. So full attendance notes as soon as you can get them done after the hearing, and be reasonably easy to contact. If they have to chase you they just won’t bother next time.

But I would say the key thing is, just enjoy yourself. Pupillage can be hard, but it’s also a lot of fun. And if you have fellow pupils be nice to them. You may feel you’re in competition with them, but you’re not. You’re all in this together, so support each other. And remember, people are watching you. If we think you’re a cutthroat asshole we won’t want you in chambers regardless of how good you are. We want people who are easy to get along with and nice to be around.

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(2)(0)

Northern Chambers HR

Never ever confide in a fellow pupil in your chambers. Career suicide.

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(1)(1)

Rory Clarke

To the above I would add – Learn to “Manage Up”.
For example-

Tenant: “Do this for me as soon as possible”
Wrong Response from you: “Certainly” – then you stay up all night to finish the work, hand it in the next day, only to find the barrister who wanted it has gone on holiday for two weeks.
Right Response: “Certainly – I can get it to you by noon Friday , does that work for you?”

Or
Pupil Supervisor: “Do this for me please by tomorrow please”
Wrong Response “Of course” – cue staying up all night, because four other barristers also asked you to do something for them for the same date”
Right Response “Of course – just to make you aware, I’ve been asked to do X and Y for these people – which of these would you like me to prioritise? And do you want it first thing Friday, or by 5pm?”

Every week you will be asked to do more than is humanly possible, just as you will in practise when you make it – it pays to be positive and show willing of course, but it shows maturity if you learn to manage this right from the start – no one can work all night or 24/7 and still perform at their best, despite the stories of heroics people will tell you. You will really stand out if you show you can manage the demands of being self-employed during your pupillage. Don’t try to be a hero, be smart. Good luck, it’s not easy, but remember it’s an incredible privilege to learn to represent people who really need help…remember that and enjoy it!

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(4)(1)

Baz

This is such, such good advice, and saved my sanity many times as a pupil.

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(1)(0)

Inaminute

The perfect advice! Do this 100%

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(0)(0)

Bike Brief

Do what I did at the end of my pupillage. Leave the bar. I have zero regrets about switching codes, becoming a solicitor advocate and making a decent living as a specialist practitioner, getting on my hind legs in the KBD and occasionally CA, but more importantly having some control of my life. Life as a junior barrister in a middling London common law set in the early nineties was utterly crap.

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(2)(2)

Oz Barrister

It’s not for everyone. Find your happy place and you will enjoy your life. Hate your job, you will hate your life.We all have cases we hate, we all have clients who are unbearable, but they are the minority.

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(2)(0)

Northern Elite

Don’t do legal aid crime work. Not only is it poorly paid, it is populated by absolute buffoons.

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(0)(1)

Fred

Possibly an unpopular view here, but be aware that the English bar is VERY hierarchical, and that that hierarchy is not based in intelligence or ability but on how long you’ve been there. So just accept that, regardless of your background or how smarty you are, many of your colleagues will have little/no respect for you (though in my experience this tends to come mostly from those whose have in interest in maintaining a hierarchy not based on intelligence or ability).

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(4)(0)

Recent pupil

Have a decent break now before you start. Book your allotted time off in first and second six asap and get it blocked out in the diary. But don’t take holiday in August in your second six. You may well get some nice returns from more senior colleagues who take August off.

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(0)(0)

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