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There are plenty of online resources detailing the work experience that will best bolster your pupillage applications. This article is not intended to be one of them. Instead, I offer some simple guidance on what to do, first, once you have found a role and, second, when discussing that experience in applications.
In an ideal world, you would find a role as closely connected to the work of the Bar as possible. Unfortunately, that is not easy – I certainly remember being grateful for any opportunity that might prove even remotely helpful for pupillage applications. Thus, you might want to also consider how to maximise the role you have landed. That requires you to think about the core skills of a barrister (and ideally a barrister in your desired practice area) and how you might develop those skills in your role.
How you do that will vary depending on your job. If you are a paralegal, you might volunteer to conduct work on a particular case, or express interest in certain work should it come in. If you are volunteering with pro bono schemes, choose the schemes and (to the extent you can) the cases most relevant to your intended practice area. If you are in a non-legal role, you might look for opportunities to work in a more client-facing position, particularly if you want to practise in an area of law where your clients are likely to be individuals (e.g. criminal or family).
This will likely require you to be candid with your employer about the sort of work you want to do. Many managers will be open to such conversations. Even if there is not an opportunity at present, they will know to keep you in mind should one arise.
Regardless of whether you have managed to ‘guide’ your work in such a way, do not just list your experience on your pupillage application form. Sell it. Tell chambers exactly what you did and how that demonstrates the skills needed at the Bar. In this regard, no experience is bad experience, and almost all will have given you some relevant skills.
For legal experience, emphasise the tasks most relevant to your intended practice area. But in general, most legal experience will be good and help in other practice areas. Research, drafting, advocacy etc are all common across the Bar.
For non-legal experience, emphasise the soft skills developed, but note you might also find more Bar-specific skills here. For example, I noted in my applications that volunteering with my university’s outreach programmes developed my advocacy because I offered talks on university and student finance to groups of students. As another example, if you’ve worked in an office role, you likely will have developed your written advocacy in some capacity. Whether you have worked on external presentations, produced marketing material, or simply emailed people of varying seniority, you will have developed your ability to adapt your communication according to who you are seeking to inform or persuade. As a caveat, though, don’t exaggerate; yes, you learned how to effectively communicate with a range of people, but no, that probably did not mean you convinced the CEO to change investment strategy.
If you ask, someone else might be able to point out parts of your role that demonstrate relevant skills but that have become so much a part of your routine that you do not realise. Ultimately, you need to think creatively about how best to market your experience to chambers. That, in itself, is a form of advocacy.
Adam Brown commenced pupillage at One Essex Court in October 2024 and joined as a tenant in October 2025. Adam practises across Chambers’ core areas, including commercial litigation, arbitration, banking and financial services, civil fraud, company and insolvency, energy and natural resources, and competition law.
There are plenty of online resources detailing the work experience that will best bolster your pupillage applications. This article is not intended to be one of them. Instead, I offer some simple guidance on what to do, first, once you have found a role and, second, when discussing that experience in applications.
In an ideal world, you would find a role as closely connected to the work of the Bar as possible. Unfortunately, that is not easy – I certainly remember being grateful for any opportunity that might prove even remotely helpful for pupillage applications. Thus, you might want to also consider how to maximise the role you have landed. That requires you to think about the core skills of a barrister (and ideally a barrister in your desired practice area) and how you might develop those skills in your role.
How you do that will vary depending on your job. If you are a paralegal, you might volunteer to conduct work on a particular case, or express interest in certain work should it come in. If you are volunteering with pro bono schemes, choose the schemes and (to the extent you can) the cases most relevant to your intended practice area. If you are in a non-legal role, you might look for opportunities to work in a more client-facing position, particularly if you want to practise in an area of law where your clients are likely to be individuals (e.g. criminal or family).
This will likely require you to be candid with your employer about the sort of work you want to do. Many managers will be open to such conversations. Even if there is not an opportunity at present, they will know to keep you in mind should one arise.
Regardless of whether you have managed to ‘guide’ your work in such a way, do not just list your experience on your pupillage application form. Sell it. Tell chambers exactly what you did and how that demonstrates the skills needed at the Bar. In this regard, no experience is bad experience, and almost all will have given you some relevant skills.
For legal experience, emphasise the tasks most relevant to your intended practice area. But in general, most legal experience will be good and help in other practice areas. Research, drafting, advocacy etc are all common across the Bar.
For non-legal experience, emphasise the soft skills developed, but note you might also find more Bar-specific skills here. For example, I noted in my applications that volunteering with my university’s outreach programmes developed my advocacy because I offered talks on university and student finance to groups of students. As another example, if you’ve worked in an office role, you likely will have developed your written advocacy in some capacity. Whether you have worked on external presentations, produced marketing material, or simply emailed people of varying seniority, you will have developed your ability to adapt your communication according to who you are seeking to inform or persuade. As a caveat, though, don’t exaggerate; yes, you learned how to effectively communicate with a range of people, but no, that probably did not mean you convinced the CEO to change investment strategy.
If you ask, someone else might be able to point out parts of your role that demonstrate relevant skills but that have become so much a part of your routine that you do not realise. Ultimately, you need to think creatively about how best to market your experience to chambers. That, in itself, is a form of advocacy.
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