Our Pupillage Advice Service (PAS) offers specialist support for the process of obtaining a pupillage at the independent bar of England and Wales.
All members of the PAS team are barristers with experience in interviews and pupillage selection who teach on the BVS. Support is available to you as soon as you accept your place on the Bar Vocational Studies programme (BVS), whilst you're on the course and for 3 years after you have graduated.
All chambers use the Gateway System Pupillage Gateway and the focus of the appointments will be the Gateway Application Form.
To book an appointment:
If you are a current BVS student, you should book an appointment via the booking form available on the BVS Central page on Moodle (see the Sources of Support section).
If you have accepted a place on the BVS, are a BVS graduate or are a student on the City GDL you can arrange an appointment by emailing law@citystgeorges.ac.uk. Please include the following in information in your email:
- Your full name (as it appears on your City student record)
- Your City student number (if you are an incoming student this is the 9 digit number on your offer)
- The type of appointment you are seeking (application advice / a mock interview)
- Details of any dates/times in the near future (outside of your timetable) when you will not be available for an appointment
Please note that appointments are only available during term time. If you would like an appointment in a specific week then please specify. Please note that advisers will need at least 5 working days to prepare for an appointment so we cannot offer you an appointment in the next 5 working days.
You may be asked to provide your CV and any Gateway applications or other relevant information prior to your appointment.
One-to-one advice
You can book an appointment for a one to one advice session, lasting 30 minutes, with one of the PAS team. You can have as many sessions as you would like, as long as there is availability.
The PAS team will be available to give you structured advice on your pupillage applications. They can cover matters such as where the gaps in your experience are, how to complete pupillage application forms, what to expect in interview and how to prepare for this.
Mock interviews
The Pupillage Advice Service offers mock pupillage interviews throughout the year. The interviews are conducted by a panel of two and can be tailored to a civil or criminal practice area.
You can also have a mock advocacy exercise (civil), a mock advocacy exercise (criminal), a legal problem question or an analysis of a court of appeal judgment alongside your interview. You can be recorded so that you can watch your performance and feedback.
See above for details of how to book an appointment. Instructions will be provided upon confirmation of a booking.
Panel events and talks
To coincide with the Gateway Timetable www.barcouncil.org.uk - we run a number of practitioner panel events and talks. Details of events can be found on https://events.lawbore.net/ . Please note that there are some restrictions on who can attend these events, and all events are only open to students of The City Law School or those who have accepted a place on one of our courses.
The events focus on how to stand out on your Gateway form and how to perform well in interview. We invite Chambers from a variety of practice areas to talk and answer questions, followed by networking. In the past years we have had in attendance:
- 5 Essex Chambers
- 2 Temple Gardens
- Foundry Chambers
- Coram Chambers
- Garden Court
- Gatehouse Chambers
- Lamb Building
- Henderson Chambers
- Old Square Chambers
- 12 KBW
- South Square
- One Essex Court
- 7 KBW
Once you have accepted your place (BVS)
A variety of services will be available to you once you have accepted a place on our Bar Vocational Studies programme:
- One-to-one pupillage advice sessions with members of the Pupillage advice team
- Mock pupillage interviews (30 minute general interviews with feedback)
- Mock pupillage advocacy exercise and a presentation with feedback
- Lectures on how to complete and stand out on the Pupillage Gateway Forms
- Workshops with practising barristers on pupillage committees on how to make an effective application
- Workshops with practising barristers and Pupillage Committees on what Chambers are looking for at interview
Once you have commenced your studies (BVS)
In addition to the support available to you as soon as you have accepted a place, BVS students can benefit the additional resources throughout their studies. This includes:
- Introductory lecture in induction week.
- Talk on the Path to Pupillage with 5 Essex Chambers.
- Lectures from the PAS team, accompanied by members of the Bar, on completing your Gateway Application form.
- Lectures on how to approach the legal problem question in pupillage
- Three pupillage workshops that are run by panels comprised of members of the Bar. Two of the workshops include matters such as how to strengthen applications, researching chambers, and preparing for interviews, all from the perspective of successful applicants, and members of the Bar involved in pupillage selection.
- The third workshop focuses on giving you an insight into the various experiences/ expectations of the pupillage year, and advice on what to expect when you join chambers.
Resources
News and information
We believe that we should keep you as informed about the latest developments on the pupillage front as possible. Our pupillage team keeps you up to date on pupillage through Lawbore, our X account (@CLSPupillageAdv), via Moodle and more traditional notices and flyers.