Before you come to making pupillage applications, you have to decide what sort of pupillage you want. Do you want to practise at the employed or self-employed Bar? Should you apply only to the crème de la crème of chambers or should you apply to a spectrum? Are you looking for a big mixed practice chambers or something small and specialist? Do you want to work for the Government Legal Department or perhaps in a charity or NGO? Or do you want to be at the cutting edge of alternative business structures and join an in-house chambers within a solicitors’ firm? These are just some of the questions you will ask if considering a career as a barrister. We asked our guests about their own experiences and roles to help you find the answers.
Guests in order of appearance
Elaine Banton: barrister at 7 Bedford Row http://www.7br.co.uk/barrister/elaine-
banton/
Julia Horner: Practice Director at Blackstone Chambers
https://www.blackstonechambers.com/recruitment/staff/
Jessica Lee: barrister and Middle Temple bencher
https://1gc.com/barristers/profile/jessica-lee and on twitter @jessicaleelaw
Michael Harwood: barrister and President of MTYBA
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-harwood-24273342/?originalSubdomain=uk and on twitter @mi_harwood
Sahar Farooqi: barrister and director of advocacy at DWF LLP
https://www.dwf.law/en/People/Find-a-lawyer/2017/S/Sahar-Farooqi
Alison Pickup: barrister and legal director of the Public Law Project
https://publiclawproject.org.uk/who-we-are/staff/
Matt Ahluwalia: barrister and Justice First Fellow at the Public Law Project
https://jff.thelegaleducationfoundation.org/fellow/matthew-ahluwalia/
Useful Links
DWF Advocacy Limited: https://www.dwf.law/en/Connected-Services/DWF-
Advocacy
Barrister’s earnings: https://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-
start/newsletter/how-much-do-barristers-earn
Public Law Project: https://publiclawproject.org.uk/
Justice First Fellowships: https://jff.thelegaleducationfoundation.org/
Glossary
Arbitration: a type of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) where disputes are
resolved outside the traditional court structure. Disputes are decided by arbitrators and are legally binding.
Counsel: another term for barristers
CPS: the Crown Prosecution Service
Door tenant: a barrister who is affiliated to, and predominately practises out of,
another chambers or has another employer.
Employed Bar: a term that refers to barristers who are employed.
Fused profession: the system whereby the legal profession is not divided between solicitors and barristers and the two roles are united; most common law jurisdictions outside England and Wales have fused professions.
Government Legal Department: the largest provider of legal services within the
Government Legal Profession.
Government Legal Service: recently renamed the Government Legal Profession,
this is the umbrella group comprising around two thousand qualified lawyers employed as civil servants in around thirty UK Government departments. The GLP (GLS) includes legal teams employed within, for example, the Attorney General’s Office, HMRC, MI5 and MI6.
Independent Bar: a term for self-employed barristers practising in chambers.
Litigator: a lawyer specialising in litigation; often used interchangeably with
advocate.
Marshalling: work experience shadowing a judge.
Mini-Pupillage: a period of work experience in a barristers’ chambers, usually a
week or less, sometimes assessed. These are generally only available to those in
their final year of a law degree or from the law conversation course onward.
Permission hearings: an early stage of a judicial review.
QC: Queen’s Counsel – an award for excellence in advocacy in the higher courts.
Those barristers who become QCs are also known as ‘silks’. The title depends on
the sex of the sovereign and during the reign of a king, QCs will become ‘King’s
Counsel’ or ‘KCs’.
RTA: road traffic accidents.
