[LawLegend]

(Original post by hopefullypupil)
someone with less knowledge is mocked for asking a question.

Perhaps there's a difference between asking an appropriate question, and asking a silly one?

[Bar None]

(Original post by InnerTemple)
It also means that you conduct yourself in a proper manner. Having an 'aggressive' understanding is one thing, slamming knowledge into the face of others and then pissing on them while they are on the ground is another. Remember, of the qualities needed in a barrister, the most important are honesty and courtesy.

That aside - I think Bar None approached this particular question quite fairly and accurately. I do wish to clarify the following though:



The questioner will finish her degree in the summer of 2013 and could commence the BPTC that year. This means, if my maths is right, that she could apply in 2013 for pupillages commencing in 2014. I think that's right?

Yes, sorry, you're right. I think I confused myself by the fact that she was talking about applying right now for pupillage.

[lulu_dudette]

(Original post by sweetgyal24)
Hi. I'm hoping to apply for Pupillage, non olpas applications soon. Could I start emailing my CV and Cover letter to Chambers? It's for 2014 and I'm going to be a 3rd year Undergraduate soon. Despite doing some research, still unsure regarding the type of Law. There are many areas; Intellectual Property seems interesting.. There's only so many modules we can study at Uni.. there's far too many in reality. How do I decide what to specialise in? Have spoken to a number of Lawyers who did the BVC (at the time). Studying Law and in practice is completely different apparently. You can love studying something on the LLB and hate it in practice...
As for OLPAS applications (12 through the pupillage portal), is it okay to start applying now? :s It would seem sensible to apply to a range of Chambers; Crime, Family, Commercial etc. As for location, would it have to be the same for all 12?
Thanks for any advice, much appreciated.

I think maybe you need to do a bit more research.
You can't apply for 2014 pupillage until around Easter next year and January/Feb for the commercial sets.
What you enjoy at uni is a good indicator for what you will enjoy in practice but yes it is true that things you enjoy at university you may not wish to practice.
In all honesty your best bet is to try and get some experience with mini pupillages and also with solicitors firms, even just your local high street firms, in order to gauge what you enjoy.

Do some more research and get some experience would be my best advice.

[Mmmbop]

(Original post by lulu_dudette)
I think maybe you need to do a bit more research.
You can't apply for 2014 pupillage until around Easter next year and January/Feb for the commercial sets.
What you enjoy at uni is a good indicator for what you will enjoy in practice but yes it is true that things you enjoy at university you may not wish to practice.
In all honesty your best bet is to try and get some experience with mini pupillages and also with solicitors firms, even just your local high street firms, in order to gauge what you enjoy.

Do some more research and get some experience would be my best advice.

In my opinion (which no one probably cares about), THIS is how you answer a question. With courtesy. Sure she may be asking the most basic questions that are most definitely not suitable for this thread but come on, lets be less like total asses. Direct her to where she needs to go and leave it at that.

Hope people are having luck with their applications this weekend

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by ali1986)
Not really sure where to begin in response to this......

I should have made myself more clearer.. wow, alot of responses already! (shocked face)

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by Bar None)
Before I spend a very long time answering this; are you being serious?

Yes! Thanks for any advice.

[IllegallyBlonde20]

(Original post by Alexr115)
Nowt from Guildhall either.

Looks like another rejection

has anyone not received an interview invitation from guildhall but still 'under consideration? (i am)

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by zaliack)
Short answer: no.

Long answer: no.

You NEED to do mini pupillages. They'll give you an idea of what the different areas of practice there is, and then you'll find one that you may enjoy. Without at least one, I'm pretty confident your application will be thrown out. Focus on them before focusing on pupillages.

I should have made myself way clearer earlier.. I have done loads of work experience at Solicitors Firms, voluntary work at the FRU and CAB. Mini Pupillages at a variety of Chambers has been done too. I have been involved in the debating club, mooting competitions etc... Thanks. I'll remember that!

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by moderntemplar)
Ooook ... as my fellow threaders have said before, where to start?! I am going to give the benefit of the doubt and assume that this is a serious post and treat it that way for the purposes of giving advice. I must put in a bit of a disclaimer at this stage and say that, everything that I am about to say, I say with good intentions and the utmost respect, so, please don't take it too personally!!

Having read your post, it is clear to me that you are very naive both to the practice of law, and the Bar as a whole; and on that basis alone, I would strongly advise you not to apply for pupillage at this stage. This is a fiercely competitive process, and there are many other applicants who have been around for years, know what they want, and where they are going to apply to try and get it. You are clearly not one of those applicants.

You say that you have heard that the practice of law is very different to practice; and I can tell you, it is!! But you should have taken the opportunity to find that out for yourself through mini-pupillages, work experience etc. It is not for myself and other threaders to tell you the realities of practice and, in any event, we can't tell you what you will and won't enjoy. In any event (and a big tip for you) you won't stand a chance of getting pupillage or a training contract without any such experience, so that is where you should be focusing your time and effort right now.

In terms of applying for pupillage, you are so far wide of the mark!! The applications have only just passed for 2013, behold the entire purpose of this thread, for those of us going through the process to share our anxieties. I think you really need to get yourself to your Careers Guidance Officer quickly to get some advice, and read the training contract and pupillage handbook at the very least.

I apologise if this comes across as very blunt, but you really do have a lot to learn. Please, please, please, learn it for yourself, as the rest of us have had to!!!

MT

Any advice is great, thanks! Im hoping to start the BPTC next year, 2013, so Pupillage applications would have to be done next year, judging by some responses on here.. Ive read the training contract and pupillage handbook 2012, in fact, its right here as I type..

[LawLegend]

(Original post by sweetgyal24)
I should have made myself way clearer earlier.. I have done loads of work experience at Solicitors Firms, voluntary work at the FRU and CAB. Mini Pupillages at a variety of Chambers has been done too. I have been involved in the debating club, mooting competitions etc... Thanks. I'll remember that!

I don't know how you can have done all of that and still ask your earlier 'question'...

[Forum User]

(Original post by sweetgyal24)
I should have made myself more clearer.. wow, alot of responses already! (shocked face)

Mini Pupillages at a variety of Chambers has been done too.

Remember that being a barrister will require a good grasp of written English; you can't afford mistakes like those in bold above when filling in application forms from what I've heard (I'm even further from pupillage than you are).

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by Bar None)
OK, I've looked at some of your recent posts, so I guess you are serious. The short answer is that if you are currently finishing the second year of a law degree you will not be able to apply for 2014 pupillages. [EDIT: Sorry, in fact you can apply for 2014 pupillages, but you will need to wait until next year to apply for them (see the post below)] After university, assuming that you are just doing a standard 3 year undergraduate course, you will still need to do the BPTC for one year. That means that the earliest you could start pupillage is [2014] and the earliest that you can apply will be next year. Before that you will need to apply to study the BPTC and consider making a scholarship application.

Between now and then you need to do a lot of research about the profession and about the area of law you would want to practice in; I noticed your post in another thread about not being sure about the difference between barristers and solicitors, becoming a barrister is an incredibly competitive process so you need to be absolutely certain that it is what you want to do before you give up a lot of time and money to do the course. I really can't stress enough how important it is to consider both whether you are really committed to the Bar and whether you are good enough to get pupillage: only around one fifth of the people undertaking the BPTC will EVER secure pupillage.

As for how you apply:

1. Your 12 OLPAS applications through the portal can only be made during a specific application window in March-April each year. Although you could apply to Chambers with very broad practice areas, you will probably want to be a bit more targeted than that. Arrange some mini-pupillages and have a think about what it is that you have enjoyed so far during your degree. At the very least you can probably figure out whether you are more interested in crime, public law, commercial, or private law.

2. Non-OLPAS Chambers generally do not accept applications for pupillage by CV and covering letter, more often they have their own application form. It is possible that you are getting confused by 3rd six pupillages, which aren't relevant to you right now, where the application is generally by CV.

There is a wealth of information out there on all of this which there really isn't the space to summarise here which would be helpful for you to read; have a look a this site as a start: http://www.lawcareers.net/

Edit: Particularly this bit: http://www.lawcareers.net/Barristers/CareerPath.aspx

I wouldn't waste time posting a question, as time is of value.. I should have mentioned, the only reason why I mentioned Pupillages in my question, was because a Barrister whome I shadowed told me that she started applying for Pupillage pretty early. That was a few years ago.. the situation has obv changed, as it was the BVC then, it's now the BPTC. With regards to pupillage, I'll wait till next year before I start filling in application forms etc then... I do intend to join one of the Inns of Court in London soon and decide on where to do the BPTC, probably local to where I live would be sensible.. the Pupillage can then be done nearer to where I will have done the BPTC as that seems to make sense. I think its hard to portray on here my dedication to Law etc.. thanks for that

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by hopefullypupil)
I thought the whole point of this thread was to help others and provide an open forum for discussion. What a shame that some have used a post as an opportunity to be quite patronising and condascending to someone who is only asking advice from those who are in a position to give it.

I hope some of your future pupilmasters / mistresses / members of chambers are more forgiving of you than you were of sweetgyal24....

If it makes any difference, I probably stereotyped myself in my first post, I have done all the relevant experience in terms of law that you could think of. I know pupillage is a pretty competitive process and all I wanted to know is when you apply for it..

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by zaliack)
Being a Barrister requires an aggressive understanding of the Bar as a whole. Nearing third year, yet not understanding a small fraction of Bar seems to indicate that Sweetgyal just isn't ready for it yet. No matter how you spin it, it's impossible to understand why her university hasn't taught her the basics of Bar, or why she has not read any guides about applying to the bar (Which all say that she needs to do mini-pupillages, and the more sophisticated ones have timelimes for applications)

Ive done a few mini pupillages as previously mentioned etc... thanks anyway.. I wish you well in your career!

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by Shearn)
I wonder if the poster is a law student. If so, it really highlights the failure of law schools to educate students about the Bar.

OP, you really ought to do a bit more background reading - it's not fair for the people here to have to type out the most basic advice that you should already have from your own reading; get a copy of Bewigged and Bewildered, read through the The Pupillage Pages.com website and perhaps even visit the OLPAS website - that would have answered a lot of your questions.

This board has some incredibly helpful people on in it, so don't be put off, but you ought to do some independent research to get a grasp of the basics, then come back for further assistance.

You're likely to encounter hostility when you have no basic understanding, especially when you are posting in a thread full of would-be barristers, people who tend to take themselves rather seriously at the best of times, let alone during the extremely stressful OLPAS interview season.

I did go on the Pupillage Portal website, just on OLPAS now.. thanks for the advice.

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by lulu_dudette)
I think maybe you need to do a bit more research.
You can't apply for 2014 pupillage until around Easter next year and January/Feb for the commercial sets.
What you enjoy at uni is a good indicator for what you will enjoy in practice but yes it is true that things you enjoy at university you may not wish to practice.
In all honesty your best bet is to try and get some experience with mini pupillages and also with solicitors firms, even just your local high street firms, in order to gauge what you enjoy.

Do some more research and get some experience would be my best advice.

Thanks for that. I've done all of that, was pretty useful. Easter of next year, right, I'll bear that in mind.

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by LawLegend)
I don't know how you can have done all of that and still ask your earlier 'question'...

We can't all be perfect lol

[sweetgyal24]

(Original post by Forum User)
Remember that being a barrister will require a good grasp of written English; you can't afford mistakes like those in bold above when filling in application forms from what I've heard (I'm even further from pupillage than you are).

I was overwhelmed my the amount of responses I got on here, that's probably why.. good luck with yours!

[Ewok]

(Original post by sweetgyal24)
If it makes any difference, I probably stereotyped myself in my first post, I have done all the relevant experience in terms of law that you could think of. I know pupillage is a pretty competitive process and all I wanted to know is when you apply for it..

If you're dead set on becoming a barrister then the first thing you need to be doing next year is applying for a BPTC scholarship from an Inn of Court. The deadline will be in November and you don't have to be a member of the Inn to apply for the scholarship, you do have to be a member to collect your scholarship money. There are other threads specifically on scholarships that I'd recommend you have a look at. Scholarships are fairly important- they can look really good on a CV. If you don't get one you can still get a pupillage but you're disadvantaged and it can perhaps indicate that you're not likely to get a pupillage. Nothing is set in stone though.

The final thing to remember is that there's no real rush to get onto your BPTC- it's expensive and if you don't get a scholarship then why not take a year out, get some relevant legal work experience (namely, work as a paralegal) and reapply for the scholarship again? It'll also give you longer to work out what area of law you want to go into.

Also- you do indeed live up to your name! Kudos to you for responding so nicely.

[Pupillage123]

(Original post by IllegallyBlonde20)
has anyone not received an interview invitation from guildhall but still 'under consideration? (i am)

If it helps, my interview was last Thursday. I think it is unlikely that they are staggered as Chambers put on quite an evening with food, drinks, networking with junior tenants, pupils, etc. Or maybe someone will pipe up on here and say interviews are staggered, you never know :-)