[Shearn]

(Original post by MRMDK)
Shearn - Did you apply before the original deadline or during the 'extended' deadline when they realised they had to advertise on the Portal?

Thanks and good luck.

I applied after the deadline, saw them mentioned on here, liked the look of them and sent it off. My letter was dated 18th June.

[user1434]

(Original post by Barnickle)
Thanks user1434 The good news is they e-mailed me just now and... there endeth the good news. Still, plenty more irons in the old fire! I do wish they wouldn't call on current employment references before even making interview decisions though, bad form, really bad form. There we are, rant over.

Sorry to hear that Barnickle. I hope that your other irons provide you with the opportunities that I'm sure you've worked hard for, best of luck!

[Lawrasawrus]

(Original post by LawLegend)
Yes! God I hope it's a friendly chat for you. Mine, on the other hand was a 20 - questions grilling, which included questions like "What's the most rebellious thing you've ever done?", "Who's head of chambers?","OK, which of us is a DDJ?", "how do you think this interview is going, out of 10?" "*after sliding a glass of water down the table at me* HALF-FULL OR HALF EMPTY??!WHY?!"

Thanks LawLegend I'll let you know how I get on. I would much rather get interesting questions like yours instead of discussing recent amendments to the CPR.

[NetballWD]

Invites for 9PP are out

[Bar None]

(Original post by LawLegend)
Yes! God I hope it's a friendly chat for you. Mine, on the other hand was a 20 - questions grilling, which included questions like "What's the most rebellious thing you've ever done?", "Who's head of chambers?","OK, which of us is a DDJ?", "how do you think this interview is going, out of 10?" "*after sliding a glass of water down the table at me* HALF-FULL OR HALF EMPTY??!WHY?!"

Where was this? Go on, name and shame.

[InnerTemple]

(Original post by LawLegend)
"*after sliding a glass of water down the table at me* HALF-FULL OR HALF EMPTY??!WHY?!"

Half full of course. Half with water, half with air. If he wants to argue with reality, I'm more than happy to watch.

*gets kicked out of chambers*

[LawLegend]

(Original post by Bar None)
Where was this? Go on, name and shame.

A gentleman never tells.



p.s. I also don't think there's any shame in that interview tactic. I'd rather they asked me "What's your favourite colour? WHY?!" than asked me to respond to a question that takes them a minute to read out off a piece of paper in front of them.

p.p.s. If I were a chocolate bar, I'd be a Curly Wurly

[yellowhannah33]

(Original post by LawLegend)
Hello everyone.

Does anyone have any experience of No5 Chambers 1st interviews?

I will provide Brownie points as consideration.

Last year it was very generic why No.5, why the Bar, what areas of law and then some general legal discussion about defending your home and family from intruders (which was a minor topic in the news at the time and it hadn't occurred to me it might come up). The year before that was very much the same but they floored me with what seemed to me to be a question out of the blue - should we scrap bank cheques? I took a position in a panic that I couldn't defend so it all went wrong very quickly. My friends in finance informed me that this was an active debate in banking circles. So I can only conclude that they like a slightly off piste question to debate.

Oh, if you haven't done a mini there, prepare an answer to why not, they asked me both years, although this might have been because I'd done one with their rivals across town.

I would like actual brownies please.

[Barnickle]

Good morning all. Just wondering if anyone has heard from 3 Stone Buildings (since their "no news simply means no news" e-mail mid-May) or 7 King's Bench Walk (since they sought references a number of weeks ago)?

Thanks all and I hope today brings some good pupillage news for you all. Bon chance.

[Talosman]

(Original post by NetballWD)
Invites for 9PP are out

Is this 9 PP Cardiff if so how are they sent out - email or letter ?

[Innerchap]

(Original post by yellowhannah33)
Last year it was very generic why No.5, why the Bar, what areas of law and then some general legal discussion about defending your home and family from intruders (which was a minor topic in the news at the time and it hadn't occurred to me it might come up). The year before that was very much the same but they floored me with what seemed to me to be a question out of the blue - should we scrap bank cheques? I took a position in a panic that I couldn't defend so it all went wrong very quickly. My friends in finance informed me that this was an active debate in banking circles. So I can only conclude that they like a slightly off piste question to debate.

Oh, if you haven't done a mini there, prepare an answer to why not, they asked me both years, although this might have been because I'd done one with their rivals across town.

I would like actual brownies please.

Mine was much the same, but the questioning also focused on my CV and other topical questions related to legal aid and the like. So I think it is best to get a good grasp on quite a few topical things, just so you aren't caught out.

[LawLegend]

(Original post by yellowhannah33)
I would like actual brownies please.

(Original post by Innerchap)
get a good grasp on quite a few topical things, just so you aren't caught out.

Merci bien, yellowahannah33 and Innerchap. Much appreciated.

I will now begin making the brownies.

[Ewok]

Hello all- just a quick update on the situation with 4 Brick Court.

I spoke to someone at the BSB on Friday and they've been investigating it since. It turns out that it was the fault of PP- the messages that were sent confirming our application are automated and 4 Brick Court did not know about them. They didn't know the error had been made until shortly before they sent that e-mail out- they'd told PP that they weren't offering a pupillage and had received a refund for their original entry.

To explain the confirmation of application messages that we all received when we submitted our application- these are apparently automated and sent by the PP.

The Bar Council is currently investigating what went wrong in PP and who is responsible. The lady I spoke to at the BSB agreed that the situation is unsatisfactory and recognised the importance of a wasted application.

I hope this helps to explain things a little further!

[Shearn]

St Philips selection evening invites by email.

[user1434]

(Original post by Barnickle)
Good morning all. Just wondering if anyone has heard from 3 Stone Buildings (since their "no news simply means no news" e-mail mid-May) or 7 King's Bench Walk (since they sought references a number of weeks ago)?

Thanks all and I hope today brings some good pupillage news for you all. Bon chance.

Except for the reference request I've not heard anything from 7KBW too. Looking back through previous years threads and TPP's archive i see no mention of their interview invites so no guess-work from that either!

[Shearn]

(Original post by user1434)
Except for the reference request I've not heard anything from 7KBW too. Looking back through previous years threads and TPP's archive i see no mention of their interview invites so no guess-work from that either!

Last year, after the reference requests I didn't hear anything from them until July, when I received a rejection email. Then, three weeks later, I received another email from them, also rejecting me.

[seatoshiningsea]

(Original post by Shearn)
Last year, after the reference requests I didn't hear anything from them until July, when I received a rejection email. Then, three weeks later, I received another email from them, also rejecting me.

Evidently, the right hand knows what the left hand is doing at that particular set!

[olpasdisliker]

(Original post by seatoshiningsea)
Evidently, the right hand knows what the left hand is doing at that particular set!

Yep, the left hand slaps you in the face and just as the handprint is starting to recede the right hand has a go itself.

[seatoshiningsea]

(Original post by Ewok)
Hello all- just a quick update on the situation with 4 Brick Court.

I spoke to someone at the BSB on Friday and they've been investigating it since. It turns out that it was the fault of PP- the messages that were sent confirming our application are automated and 4 Brick Court did not know about them. They didn't know the error had been made until shortly before they sent that e-mail out- they'd told PP that they weren't offering a pupillage and had received a refund for their original entry.

To explain the confirmation of application messages that we all received when we submitted our application- these are apparently automated and sent by the PP.

The Bar Council is currently investigating what went wrong in PP and who is responsible. The lady I spoke to at the BSB agreed that the situation is unsatisfactory and recognised the importance of a wasted application.

I hope this helps to explain things a little further!

Thanks for this, Ewok - it does clarify matters somewhat. Nonetheless, the Bar Standards merely paying lip service to "the importance of a wasted application" is unlikely to be any consolation to those who invested time and effort into their applications for 4BC (and possibly narrowly rejected another good and more considerate set of Chambers as their twelfth slot). Very unsatisfactory situation, indeed - it speaks volumes about the lack of coordination between Chambers, the Board and those who administer the PP. Talk about the professionalism of would-be barristers appears rather cynical after hearing these kinds of stories from a profession that prides itself on supposedly high standards of conduct.

Sorry, don't mean to rant, but this type of behaviour just winds me up!

[TakeTwo]

Devastated after post first round rejection from 2 Hare Court. Thought I'd had a really good interview. Would be interested to talk to others who interviewed there re this years 'topical issues' - they gave me two - was it the same for everyone else?