‘Congratulations! You have secured pupillage. Now the hard work begins…’

The above may be a familiar refrain to many of you; some may still have these words ringing in your ears since May earlier this year. I was certainly told this when I secured pupillage many moons ago. My immediate reaction was a mixture of irritation and dread: are you saying my GCSEs, A-Levels, degree, Bar Course, prior employment etc. were all easy? And if, relative to pupillage, this was all easy then how hard will pupillage possibly be?

In my opinion, the above phrase should really substitute the word ‘hard’ for ‘practical’. Pupillage is hard work, but no harder than the extensive efforts you will have put in to reach this stage, and it would be unfair and dismissive to suggest otherwise. Rather, pupillage will test you not to new lengths, but in new ways.

Above all, pupillage tests how you are able to translate the skills of the classroom into the courtroom. Academic studies build a foundation for advocacy, but in a necessarily artificial and somewhat sanitised context. Cross-examination in seminar groups will typically be with a compliant witness who answers questions helpfully and with the intention of supporting the development of your advocacy skills; real witnesses seldom afford you that luxury. Submissions delivered in an uninterrupted 30-minute block with positive and constructive feedback thereafter might be replaced with a back-and-forth judicial exchange lasting five minutes, if that.

At the employed Bar, pupillage is also the opportunity to develop skills outside the courtroom. Those who read my article in the Counsel Bar Student Guide last year will know that I see the main distinguishing features of the employed Bar as being an increased focus on a) commercial awareness and b) teamwork. We will be looking for our pupils to develop these skills over the course of pupillage.

These two skills are underpinned by building relationships, both professional and personal. We want our pupils to be valued, and valuable – junior barristers will of course be undertaking work for established clients (and you will need to show an aptitude for doing so), but you are never too young to start forging your own path and procuring work from, and servicing, new clients.

As to how to best develop these skills, I would start with this broad premise: seek out reason to DO something, rather than NOT to do it. Take any and all opportunities that arise to try new things; gain new skills; embrace new experiences. Do not be dissuaded from an opportunity because of its time or travel requirements – most (if not all) employers will have policies in place to ensure that you are not left out of pocket for travel, sustenance and potentially even overtime pay, so this financial security allows you the freedom to explore the opportunity itself.

What does ‘exploring the opportunity’ mean? In my view, it means:

  • Speaking to people and taking on board their wisdom. Plainly, you should do so critically – the proselytised rantings of a disenfranchised colleague should not be adopted as gospel – but seeing and hearing different attitudes allows you to gain an understanding of how the law was, is, and will be in practice.
  • Not discriminating between who you are speaking to. There is no room for elitism in e.g. only seeking out and speaking to partners, and ignoring the trainees and paralegals – treat everyone with equal respect. Indeed, the junior team members you initially work for may become life-long instructing solicitors, who retain your services as they progress up the corporate ladder.
  • Conversing not only with members of your own chambers and/or organisation, but your instructing clients; your insurer clients; your professional clients; your clerking team; and your opponents. A breadth of experience builds a breadth of knowledge.
  • Engaging in discussion about anything and everything (with, in my humble opinion and given its divisive nature, the possible exception of politics). A small nugget of insight into how your client lives their life might provide a useful tag-on line to a closing submission, or to provide a wider context within which you might be inviting the court to find a point of law in your favour.
  • Sitting in on client meetings, case discussions, and file surgeries. You may not feel able to contribute much (if anything) to them, but simply by your presence and your engagement, you will not only soak up the substantive knowledge shared in these rooms, but also get a feel for the way in which legal business is conducted (and, if you have a quasi-political leaning, who to befriend and who to avoid!)
  • Adding value. A very typical pupil viewpoint is ‘these barristers/colleagues know so much more than me, so I cannot help out’. But you will have time and opportunity to research points of law into much greater detail than most counsel will have committed to memory. There may be occasions where, depending on the subject matter, you are in fact the most informed person in the room – whether on a point of law, or on a social issue affected by that law. If nothing else, being a sounding board for ideas often prompts a more critical analysis of an issue than was first the case.

Ultimately, pupillage is a fantastic opportunity to get the measure of law in practice; to develop your legal, professional and personal skills; and to build relationships which might last you a lifetime. It is a time which should be treasured. Because after pupillage, then the hard work begins… 

George Aubrey, one of our pupils last year and now a junior barrister, provides an insight into his practical experience of pupillage:
‘In my view, one of the greatest opportunities of doing pupillage at the employed bar is the increased exposure to clients at a relatively junior stage of your career. For example, during the course of pupillage I joined colleagues from DAC Beachcroft in meeting with major clients at their offices across the country, and even up to Perth in Scotland when I had the pleasure of hosting a mock trial for an insurer client alongside my pupil supervisor. Getting high-quality face-to-face time with clients like this is invaluable, as it allows you to develop relationships and understand their commercial objectives.
‘Another advantage with pupillage at the employed bar, particularly in such a large organisation, is the ease of collaboration. For example, our team of barristers hosts regular file surgeries every Tuesday afternoon, which enables fee earners throughout the firm to drop in to seek ad-hoc advice. As a pupil, the value of these file surgeries cannot be underestimated. At the start of pupillage, the file surgeries offer the opportunity to watch other more senior barristers respond on their feet to a wide array of queries, including everything from paralegals asking questions about discrete aspects of civil procedure through to partners asking for strategic litigation advice in high value claims. As pupillage progresses, you transition from being an astute observer to a fully-fledged participant in these file surgeries, which serve as a fertile proving ground for all the skills that you have developed during pupillage.’