Cross-Qualifying as Barrister in England

Basically, I would like to work at the English Bar, preferably at the Commercial Bar.

I have qualified as a barrister in another jurisdiction (will have 2 years post qualification experience at the end of the coming legal year. While mixed, the nature of my experience is predominantly commercial). I have a first class undergraduate degree, and a first class degree from bar school in my jurisdiction.

Investigations have shown that I can either take a qualifying test at the end of my second year, or automatically cross qualify at the end of third year. I am on the fence as to which one would suit best.

My questions are - do you (the forum at large) think that I would have to undertake pupillage to get into a chambers? Or would it be possible to apply for a tenancy (knowing, in all likelihood that I will have no English solicitor contacts/ work to bring into a chambers)? If this is a bit of an unknown, what would be the best way to find out?

Further to the above and leaving aside the question of whether to apply for pupillage/ tenancy, would it be advisable to consider an LLM/ BCL before attempting to do so? I think I may scrape into Cambridge and possibly Oxford (although I wouldn't be confident as to that, and it would be entirely dependent on scholarships/ funding from other sources).

Reply 1

rtg56

Hi NewDeparture

I am a Barrister at a commercial chambers here in London - not part of the magic circle but a first tier set. It's hard to give specific advice because (understandably) you haven't given too much away in your post. That said, as a general rule I imagine you would be more likely to obtain a pupillage in the usual way than you would be to make a direct transfer as a new tenant. I say this because it's unlikely you'll have built up a reputation with solicitors so any chambers would very much be taking a huge gamble on offering you tenancy.

The good news is that there is an application process to cut down on the length of your pupillage so you might not have to do the full 12 months.

If you are in any doubt you could always email the chambers you're thinking of applying to directly. You sound like an excellent candidate and I'm sure they could give you better guidance over email than I can on this forum.

Good luck.

Reply 2

amood00

tl;dr but my m8 tells me like you need like 15A*s to do medicine.. you dont have a chance like

Reply 3

NewDeparture

Thanks for the first reply, very helpful. Not so much the second.

Just one follow up thing, do you think an LLM/ BCL (if admission is possible) would be advisable? Or, given that doing a period of pupillage would amount to nearly 3 years worth of working towards tenancy, would it be better to take the plunge and try and get into chambers?

Reply 4

rtg56

Original post by NewDeparture

The honest answer is I don't know. I imagine that your experience in your present jurisdiction would be more relevant to Chambers than an LLM or the BCL (unlike, for example, a student fresh out of University who only has their academic record to fall back on). Given that you have to apply for pupillage a year in advance, might it be better to spend that additional year actually practising law?

On the other hand, if you'd like to take a year out and fancy studying an LLM or the BCL for its own sake, then go for it. I did a Masters in Law myself and really enjoyed it!

Reply 5

Nigel85

I am also a barrister at a commercial set in London. As rtg56 says, much will depend on your experience in your present jurisdiction. Several chambers now have annexes abroad, or are particularly keen to do work in foreign jurisdictions. If that might be relevant to you, the best advice would be to contact those chambers directly (perhaps via the Head of Chambers rather than the pupillage committee). They may be interested in treating it as a tenancy application, or alternatively in taking you for a shorter pupillage without requiring you to go through the normal pupillage application process. It is likely, however, to depend on whether you can bring work, experience or solicitor contacts from your present jurisdiction.

However, if your experience is in a jurisdiction which is of less interest to chambers and if you don't have many relevant contacts, I would say that doing the BCL will probably give you an advantage when applying for pupillage (whether you do this via the normal channels or via a direct approach to chambers). An LLM from elsewhere (even Cambridge) is undoubtedly less prestigious as far as commercial sets are concerned, but possibly still useful in demonstrating experience in this jurisdiction. I would probably recommend trying to obtain mini-pupillages with some chambers and asking for advice once you are there. However, I suspect you may find that at the top commercial sets, your present experience would not be enough to compete with the candidates who have equally good results in areas of law which are directly relevant to chambers' practice areas.

I would not advise you to 'take the plunge' in actually applying for pupillage if your experience is not quite strong enough at the moment. Chambers are likely to remember you, and they are often not interested in repeat applications. However, there is nothing to stop you applying for mini-pupillages and asking for informal advice.

Good luck!

Reply 6

NewDeparture

Thanks for the excellent advice!

I have one other question - would it be possible to apply for a mini pupillage this year? (Most likely in the January - Easter period.) Or would it be strange for someone in their second year of practice in another (near) jurisdiction to do a mini pupillage with an English set?

Cross-Qualifying as Barrister in England

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