Barrister Shadowing

does anyone know any firms that I can shadow barristers for work experience? thankss

Reply 1

Alright, some terminology for you first. Solicitors work in firms. Barristers work in chambers (the singular is also chambers). To shadow a barrister you need to apply to chambers directly for what's called a mini pupillage (just our own funky name for work experience). However, most chambers only offer mini pupillages to undergraduate students and above. If you're in sixth form, it's not likely that you'll be offered a mini pupillage. But there's no harm in checking, so search for chambers near you (they are in nearly all major cities) and send them an email.

An alternative is marshalling, which is sitting with a judge while they do cases. Things are much less formal when it comes to marshalling, so again it's best to email your local county court and see if you'd be able to marshal with a judge. In my experience county court judges are more willing to take sixth form students on occasion, so depending on your age you may have more joy there.

Reply 2

_07ems

yeah i recently applied to a chamber near me but got rejected as they don’t offer mini pupillage to under 18s. a friend told me to try other chambers hence why i made the post to try and see whether some actually accept year 12s. thank you so much! i’m thinking of shadowing a solicitor if the personal injury barrister i applied to too is not able to !! or is shadowing a solicitor not a possibility too?

Reply 3

Crazy Jamie

Original post

by _07ems

Not many will, and very few if any of those will actually advertise it. It's best to check directly. Work experience with solicitors is probably slightly more likely, but you may get more joy emailing smaller, high street firms near you. They're likely to have less rigid structures and processes for work experience, so may be able to show more flexibility.

Reply 4

SosbanFach

The one set of chambers (as another terminology point, one can refer to a "set") that I am aware offers work experience to sixth formers is Matrix Chambers. It's a set with a very strong practice in public law (broadly, anything involving the exercise of power by organs of the state such as the Civil Service, councils, regulators, government ministers etc.) and human rights law, as well as in a number of other areas (many broadly related to those two, and some unrelated). As Jamie says above, though, most chambers will only offer this kind of experience to university students and above, so Matrix is the exception rather than the norm in this respect.