Life after the BPTC

Other than paralegal work, what else can I look forward to doing with my life now?

Given that you've done the BPTC I assume that your ultimate short to medium term goal is to secure pupillage. If that is right, you need to be looking at what you can do next that will continue to develop your skills and experience, and strengthen your written pupillage application. A paralegal role is one of the ways that you can do that, but they can vary significantly depending on the firm and practice area. There are also other roles, such as freelance advocacy, in house advocacy and barrister assistant roles. Or it may be that you want to go in a different direction entirely. A lot of it depends on you, what you want and need to do, and how you can make yourself a better candidate.

Reply 2

imogens123

Original post by Crazy Jamie

What's your best tips for getting a pupillage?

Reply 3

Crazy Jamie

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by imogens123

What's your best tips for getting a pupillage?

I have written a lot about getting pupillage on this site, so if have some time you can always search for my posts, filter the posts from the Law and Legal forums (the majority are from those anyway), and have a browse. It's too much to summarise here.

However, my best tip is that you should look to develop your application not with reference to what you think sets are looking for, but with a focus on what you need to develop yourself into a strong candidate for pupillage. I've recently written about that in a bit more detail here in post 10.

Reply 4

The University of Law Students

Official Rep

Crazy Jamie offers lots of sound advice so it's worth reading the other posts.

There are also some ideas here: https://www.lawcareers.net/Explore/BlogPost/Blessing-Mukosha-Park/Life-after-the-BPTC-What-should-you-do-next.

Although you've not yet got a pupillage, this blog has a few good points too: https://aaronmayers.medium.com/what-should-i-do-between-now-and-my-pupillage-in-2021-4ccdb61a931c

Most importantly, don't lose sight of your goal. Remember, lots of barristers don't gain pupillage on the first (second or third) attempt. Keep plugging the gaps and you will be in a better position to get one.

All the best with it!

Nic
Student Ambassador at The University of Law

Reply 5

senzubeansoup

If you don't get pupillage five years post-call, and you can't convince the regulator to grant you an extension, you're effectively shut out of the profession. Beyond paralegalling forever, doing the LPC/SQE, or leaving the legal sector entirely, your employment options are narrow. Your skills suddenly become rather niche. Whatever you choose to do, you're effectively starting from scratch.

All support from your Inn/course provider dries up. Hardly anyone outside of law knows what the BPTC is, and an equal number attribute any value to it. Believe me, it's a horrible position to be in.

Don't be fooled into believing that if you try hard enough, you'll make it. One look at the Bar recruitment statistics should tell you that there are thousands of people who mistakenly thought the same thing, much to their detriment.