Pupillage Application Watch: 2024-2025

Guys, I’m kind of over the word limit for an essay I have drafted. Do you think it’s okay to cite the case law as case name [date] rather than a full citation?

Suppose you received feedback on an informally assessed pupillage and you were recommended both for a second mini-pupillage and you were recommended for a pupillage interview - would it be wise to state that on the pupillage gateway or not?

The 'suppose' in this question is barely veiled at all. What do you mean by "recommended for a pupillage interview"? At is height I can only imagine that the barrister who informally assessed you thought that it would be a good idea for Chambers to interview you, which means nothing for the purposes of your application and there would be no point in mentioning it as the chances are slim that that barrister will actually be assessing your application, which is likely to be anonymised in any event. But if I'm missing something as to what that means then no doubt you can tell me.
The second mini pupillage is possibly slightly more relevant, but it ultimately runs into the same problem, namely that you were assessed informally and without any sort of reference (I expect) to the scoring framework for the set's pupillage process. As someone sifting applications, it is entirely irrelevant to me what another barrister thought of an applicant on a mini pupillage. Ultimately it comes down to the fact that if you're as good as that barrister thinks, your application should be good enough to get an interview without name dropping, which worked once upon a time with this sort of thing, but increasingly doesn't. And, indeed, can't with the way that a lot of sifting processes are managed now.

I agree with what you have explained. Would you mind explaining the last paragraph on name dropping? Should I not refer to barristers who I was under during mini pupillages by name?

No, that's not what I mean. Using the name of a barrister that you've been with on a mini pupillage, particularly when applying to that particular set, is fine. Name dropping is when you put something along the lines of "I recently completed a mini pupillage with Mr Jones, who told me that I was bloody brilliant and should definitely apply for pupillage" or "I am particularly keen to apply to your Chambers because of Mr Smith KC, who is a long time family friend and can speak to how awesome I am". And other examples. A half way house between the two is saying that you were against a particular barrister in a hearing (obviously for those who have finished their studies and are in some sort of advocacy role), either just to put it out there or to say that they said they were impressed by you. I actually did that for an application to a set where I ended up getting an interview, though not pupillage. However, with the benefit of hindsight I highly doubt that the name dropping made any sort of difference, and that was at a time when my written application left a fair amount of room for improvement. The idea behind name dropping is that the person reviewing your application will go along to the person you've named dropped and ask them if you should be interviewed. The person will say you should, and you'll be given an interview. Once upon a time that and variations on it may have worked to some degree, but times have changed and the chances are vanishingly small of it working now, whereas the chances of you looking like a bit of an idiot are much higher.

This is quite interesting: how will they be able to ask those barristers name dropped when your name, university’s name and (I assume) bar school’s name are ‘removed’ to enable blind sifting?

Exactly my point. It's a big part of the reason why it doesn't work anymore. That and sets now have to assess applications based on set scoring criteria. Canvassing the view of a random barrister in Chambers isn't consistent with that.

Is it necessary to answer the following question, if you feel like you have covered everything you want to cover? - Please identify any additional experiences/skills gained that you believe may help you in your career.

would you take "manuscript cover letter" to mean handwritten or just an indication that it should be printed and sent physically? I am now wondering if I needed to handwrite it - was going to hand deliver it tomorrow.

Handwritten. And if it's for the chambers I saw that asked for it, it has to have arrived by tomorrow (not post marked tomorrow)

Thank you for clarifying, I better get writing! I work nearby so will hand deliver in the morning, hopefully that will be ok!

Can anyone else apply for GT Stewart on the pupillage gateway?

I applied to GT Stewart a couple of weeks ago

Handwritten. And if it's for the chambers I saw that asked for it, it has to have arrived by tomorrow (not post marked tomorrow)

Was it via the gateway? The button doesn't appear to apply for me.