The TSR Community Awards 2025 are now live >>

Getting pupilage in London after Cardiff BPTC...

This really is a binary question 🤣

I'm aware of how competitive a pupallige is so no need to go there :smile:

I'm literally interested in whether there is a disadvantage (perceived or real) of getting a pupillage in one of the inns of court if completing the BPTC at Cardiff rather than say, City University for example.

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

Blayze

No diference or disadvantage whatsoever.

Having said that, you don't get pupilllage in an "inn of court", you get pupillage at a chambers which might have space in one of the inns, or might not.

Reply 2

jimmybonds007

Thanks. Very helpful. Can I ask how you're so sure? Yes my question should have been will Cardiff or CSL make any difference to getting a pupillage at a London based chambers.

Reply 3

Crazy Jamie

Original post

by jimmybonds007

Thanks. Very helpful. Can I ask how you're so sure? Yes my question should have been will Cardiff or CSL make any difference to getting a pupillage at a London based chambers.

Blayze is a barrister at a London commercial set. Hence being so sure. But I'm a barrister at a non London set and can be equally sure, because there is just no situation where the physical location that you do the Bar course, in and of itself, makes any difference to your quality as a candidate or your suitability for pupillage. Historically there have been some smaller regional sets who will be wary of giving pupillage to candidates who then go to other sets after they complete their pupillage, and one of those concerns included candidates moving to London from out of London sets. There has never really been a perceived issue the other way (i.e. candidates getting pupillage in London and then moving away) as far as I'm aware, but even if their was, the red flag in that respect is where your social and personal ties are as a candidate, not where you did the Bar course. So even through that lens this was always a non factor. But in reality, the physical location that you did the Bar course isn't going to be something that a barrister sifting your pupillage application even notices, let alone something that they take into consideration when actually assessing your application.

Reply 4

jimmybonds007

This is brilliant thank you. My son is at Cardiff doing an LLB and gets a 20% discount if he does his BTPC there. However his mother feels he should move back home (we live in London) and feels he should go to CLS due to its location and its 'perceived' connections and the fact he would attempt to get a pupillage in London. This is why I was asking but you have both put that theory to bed.

So, he really should stay where he is!!

Reply 5

Crazy Jamie

Original post

by jimmybonds007

For the sake of balance, it is true to say that Bar courses may have some connections to local sets, and may facilitate candidates having opportunities to come into contact with local barristers. I did my course in Manchester, some local barristers came to our end of year meal, and through speaking to one of them I talked my way into a mini pupillage. I then went on to apply to that set and got a reserve offer, though ultimately I accepted pupillage elsewhere. It's highly debatable how far that connection runs causatively between the Bar course and my reserve offer, but the opportunity was there at least. So there is something in what your wife says from that perspective.

However, it is also true to say that with you living in London already, I expect that your son has a natural base if he was to simply apply for mini pupillages at some of the very many sets that are in London, so he has the opportunity to meet London based barristers that way. Ultimately there's no right answer here. If money is an issue (as it generally is to some degree) then the 20% discount is a relevant factor to weigh in the balance with all of the others. Doing the Bar course in London where he may (but by no means definitely will) gain more opportunities to meet local barristers is also one. It's a matter for him as to which of those options is better for him, but I'm sure both would be fine. He's not going to put himself to a significant advantage or disadvantage either way.

Reply 6

Stiffy Byng

Some of the Bar course providers try to suggest that they have some sort of edge over the others, but none of them does.

Perhaps the Inns of Court College of Advocacy, which seems to be an an attempt to revive the old Inns of Court School of Law (which was taken over by City University) will become the best of the bunch, but at present the providers are all much of a muchness. I don't think that many or any chambers pay much or any attention to where a person does the Bar course.

SB (a barrister in London)

(edited 9 months ago)