I am a practising barrister - AMAA

I can't say I've ever seen a fee note from a barrister without VAT on it, even when sent to clients that are not VAT registered.

On the VAT expenses point, most barristers around my level of call pay VAT on the basis of the flat rate scheme…

Is that really an advantage, given that you're going to have to collect all your expenses up for the purposes of income tax anyway?

I did have one other question. Do you send out your own billing, or do the clerks in chambers do that for you?

That is very much the domain of the clerks. In fact, almost everything to do with fees is the clerks' responsibility. I'll endorse briefs with the time that I spend on individual cases, but it is down to the clerks to book cases, negotiate my fee (where necessary; some fees are fixed), send out the fee note afterwards, and then chase fees that are not paid (of which there are many).

Oh, that's great, someone else to do the money chasing! But the clerks don't do your general expenses?

You have a chance, but you will need to be aware that your prospects are harmed by not going to a Russell Group University. Ultimately pupillage applications are all about ticking the required boxes and making yourself stand out. Unfortunately if you did not go to a Russell Group University your application is weaker in that regard than those who did, and as such you will need to compensate to strengthen your application in other areas. As with any individual's decision as to whether or not to attempt to secure pupillage, that is a factor that you will have to weigh when deciding on whether or not your ambition in that regard is realistic.

okay thanks, I don't want to be a barrister I want to be a solicitor but I suppose that applies when trying to secure a training contract.

Reminding yourself as to the rules and practice on drafting may be useful, as you will almost inevitably be asked to draft a range of paperwork during first six. Then again, your skills in that regard will naturally develop as you read examples of other barristers' work and get to grips with real cases. Beyond that familiarising yourself with the rules of litigation (either criminal, civil or family, depending on your pupillage) will be useful. There's no need to worry about the more practical skills such as advocacy, conference skills and so on; you'll quickly come to realise just how large the gap is between the BPTC and practice in that regard, and you'll see plenty in first six that'll help you along in those areas.
No one expects you to be the finished article on your first day. You'll likely find first six to be daunting at first (and in fact I'd be worried if you didn't), but just remember that this is a learning process, and the barristers that you come across will appreciate that. Don't be afraid to ask questions; it will be helpful early on to identify a couple of junior members of Chambers, possibly those that have most recently become tenants, that you can ask the more straightforward questions to about practice of Chambers generally. The reality is that the BPTC simply does not prepare you for practice, and certainly when you get closer to second six you may need to talk over with another barrister how certain hearings work or points that may come up in a certain type of case. Don't be afraid to do that; asking other barristers questions and/or bouncing ideas off them is very much part of this job.

To give a recent example, last year I basically gave our pupil a crash course in Credit Hire for the first day of their second six because they had never done it before. I didn't judge them for it at all, and indeed much preferred them coming to me so I can give them a half hour overview rather than them spending endless hours digging through the relevant practitioner's text without any sense of direction. It's far better to ask questions when you need to.

The only other thing I would say is that remember that you were offered pupillage because you are good enough to do this job. I don't need to tell you or anyone else on this forum how great an achievement it is to secure pupillage, and you secured it on merit. You can and should work extremely hard during pupillage to demonstrate the right kind of work ethic, but equally you should have faith in your own abilities.

As to the question about developing your practice; the answer may differ slightly depending on the Chambers that you have pupillage with and the practice areas that you're talking about. I'm more than happy to give you advice on that, but it might be best if you PM me with that information so that I can give you more tailor made advice.

Many thanks for the offer of more tips re practice building - if you don't mind I won't, at least at this stage, take you up on that as I don't want to go into any details - but many thanks.

I agree that that isn't helpful advice. My assumption would be that the advice to make your application 'interesting' is an attempt to encourage you to make your application stand out, which of course is essential for the paper stage of the pupillage application process.

I would make two points in relation to that advice. The first is that you can only make your application 'interesting' if you yourself are actually 'interesting'. In other words, no amount of flowery language is going to cover up the fact that there is nothing about you or your application that stands out from the crowd. There are many phrases that find there way on to job applications and CVs all the time, with applicants describing themselves as 'motivated', 'hard working', 'team players', and so on. When it comes to pupillage applications simply saying that you have the required qualities is not sufficient; you need to back them up with references to experience or qualifications that you have. In other words, making your application 'interesting' is not a matter of sitting down and improving your average application by wording it in a way that wouldn't look out of place in a Neil Gaiman novel. It's a longer term process than that of actually improving yourself and your application over a period of time.

The second point that I would make, which is related to the first, is that the process of developing yourself into an 'interesting' applicant does involve pursuing interests that you have outside of the law. As hard as you have to work to tick the required academic boxes, this is a career where being personable is also pretty essential, and it's difficult to be personable if you lock yourself away in a darkened room for four years. For example, a good friend of mine in Chambers graduated with a 2:1 from Oxbridge and was frankly always going to be a frontrunner for pupillage. But he also became a qualified football referee at university, something which found its way onto his CV and pupillage applications. It is far from the main reason that he secured pupillage, but it would certainly have made his applications more 'interesting'.

Without wishing to hijack Crazy Jamie's thread, I am also a practising barrister and have recently been involved in assessing pupillage applications at my Chambers. One way to make your application "interesting" is to show genuine interest in and understanding of the area of law practised by Chambers. It may not be enough simply to say that you studied that area at university, but if you can show that, for example, you have written an article or an extended essay on a particular area of law then that is an excellent way of demonstrating real interest in it. But ideally you also need to go further than that - can you set out your views on the current law? Can you suggest how it might develop, or areas of uncertainty in the current authorities?

There are lots of candidates who are good enough to be interviewed, but very few who really excel at this aspect of the application. I suspect that applicants for criminal pupillages are often better at this, given the huge amount of practical experience that many of my criminal barrister friends obtained before applying.

I also completely endorse Crazy Jamie's advice above, in particular that wheeling out certain phrases won't get you anywhere. One piece of advice that I was given is to think of your answers as almost telling a story. I think that is interesting from a psychological perspective - as humans we like to be told stories and we remember things better when they are in story form. Perhaps it is therefore a way to stand out to a panel more than simply listing achievements. Obviously there are ways of doing this that would just be cringeworthy and make you stand out for the wrong reasons, but I think it may be worth bearing in mind when crafting at least some of your answers!

Ultimately, how to make your application "interesting" depends to some extent on the set. We are looking for something different to other sets of chambers and possibly also place less of a focus on extracurricular interests. It may be better to think of the advice as being to focus on showing how you meet the criteria that chambers has set in as interesting and compelling a way as possible than to start thinking of ways to stand out and be "interesting".

AMAA standing for 'Ask Me Almost Anything', for those who don't know.

into that question that is asked one way or another. I also know that there are a it.

...

What would you say would be the most important section on the pupillage applications: grades, question answers, scholarships obtained,etc?

Thanks in advance.

I got BCC in my AS year but will be aimed AAAC (picking up a full a level in one year). I am going to apply to Warwick but I need a second choice Uni. Liverpool have low entry grades (ABB) and I was wondering if it would hinder my chances of becoming a Barrister if I was to go there?

Also I come from a low income family and considering Law tends to be a very prestigious profession, would not having a lot of money hold me back?

So provided that the applicant already has some unusual and 'interesting' experience (such as through work), what would your advice be in relation to setting this out correctly so as to make the most of it?

It took me four years to get my A Levels: AAB (Maths, Biology & Chemistry)...
2 years of college, then gap year, then resat some modules during first year of uni. I had migating circumstances but no proof.

I have a 2:1 from Brighton in Law with Criminology.

I have many ECs...

Is it worth trying to become a solicitor?