*/
So, you’ve spent hours and hours perfecting your pupillage application forms and your reward at the end of it all is a 20-minute grilling. How do you prove yourself in such a short window?
This is included in the top tips from the Secret Barrister: see bit.ly/2UcJaE1. It is just not possible to anticipate every question or every argument that may be put to you. Do whatever it takes to get in the right frame of mind. I liked to be busy in the run-up to an interview so I didn’t dwell on things. Others like to clear their diaries. Whatever works for you.
Have an answer for the classic opening questions like ‘why do you want to be a barrister?’ and ‘why are you interested in commercial law?’. If your answer to either is ‘because I like money’, think of a better one. And, as criminal barrister Joanna Hardy recommends in a thread reproduced by Legal Cheek, make sure you know where the interview is and get there early.
As Katy Thorne QC, of Doughty Street Chambers told the Guardian recently, slowing things down will give you more thinking time and make sure your answer, when it comes, will be heard and remembered. You shouldn’t be afraid of a short silence while you gather your thoughts. It happens all the time in court and it can be very impressive if you have the confidence to do it.
I didn’t take up the opportunity of mock interviews when I was applying for pupillage and I think it showed. It’s much better to make your mistakes before you get into the room (or onto the Zoom call). Mock interviews are recommended by the pupillage teams at 5 Essex Court (@Pupillages) and Henderson Chambers (@HendersonPupils) and offered by the Inns of Court.
Barristers are people too (well, some of them). They like to see a candidate with something beyond the standard excellent academic results and extra-curricular activities. Even if you don’t have something quirky on your CV, the ‘what’s your favourite biscuit?’ genre of questions provides an opportunity. While these are rarely decisive of who gets an offer, an answer that shows a bit of humour and humanity might get you through the first round in a tight contest.
The whole purpose of the interview exercise is to test if you have the potential to stand up in court and present an argument. Your answers should have a logical structure that explains why you are right. Once you have chosen a ‘side’ don’t abandon it easily. The 5 Essex Court 2020 Pupillage Selection Report identifies structure and responding well when challenged as the key features of stronger answers to legal problems.
There is always that moment at the end where you have the opportunity to put the panel on the spot with something tricky like: how often will I be in court in my second six? Unless you really have a great question, it’s better not to ask it. If the answer is on the chambers’ website, it is definitely better not to ask it.
If you do enough interviews, you will make a mistake. You will say something stupid or trip over your words. You will come across a rude interviewer (some barristers can think rather a lot of themselves). Accept it will happen and look forward to the next one. As Joanna Hardy, and Taylor Swift, put it: ‘Shake it off.’
Adam Smith-Roberts is a barrister at Gatehouse Chambers where he specialises in property, private client and commercial work. Before becoming a barrister, Adam worked in political journalism for eight years.
So, you’ve spent hours and hours perfecting your pupillage application forms and your reward at the end of it all is a 20-minute grilling. How do you prove yourself in such a short window?
This is included in the top tips from the Secret Barrister: see bit.ly/2UcJaE1. It is just not possible to anticipate every question or every argument that may be put to you. Do whatever it takes to get in the right frame of mind. I liked to be busy in the run-up to an interview so I didn’t dwell on things. Others like to clear their diaries. Whatever works for you.
Have an answer for the classic opening questions like ‘why do you want to be a barrister?’ and ‘why are you interested in commercial law?’. If your answer to either is ‘because I like money’, think of a better one. And, as criminal barrister Joanna Hardy recommends in a thread reproduced by Legal Cheek, make sure you know where the interview is and get there early.
As Katy Thorne QC, of Doughty Street Chambers told the Guardian recently, slowing things down will give you more thinking time and make sure your answer, when it comes, will be heard and remembered. You shouldn’t be afraid of a short silence while you gather your thoughts. It happens all the time in court and it can be very impressive if you have the confidence to do it.
I didn’t take up the opportunity of mock interviews when I was applying for pupillage and I think it showed. It’s much better to make your mistakes before you get into the room (or onto the Zoom call). Mock interviews are recommended by the pupillage teams at 5 Essex Court (@Pupillages) and Henderson Chambers (@HendersonPupils) and offered by the Inns of Court.
Barristers are people too (well, some of them). They like to see a candidate with something beyond the standard excellent academic results and extra-curricular activities. Even if you don’t have something quirky on your CV, the ‘what’s your favourite biscuit?’ genre of questions provides an opportunity. While these are rarely decisive of who gets an offer, an answer that shows a bit of humour and humanity might get you through the first round in a tight contest.
The whole purpose of the interview exercise is to test if you have the potential to stand up in court and present an argument. Your answers should have a logical structure that explains why you are right. Once you have chosen a ‘side’ don’t abandon it easily. The 5 Essex Court 2020 Pupillage Selection Report identifies structure and responding well when challenged as the key features of stronger answers to legal problems.
There is always that moment at the end where you have the opportunity to put the panel on the spot with something tricky like: how often will I be in court in my second six? Unless you really have a great question, it’s better not to ask it. If the answer is on the chambers’ website, it is definitely better not to ask it.
If you do enough interviews, you will make a mistake. You will say something stupid or trip over your words. You will come across a rude interviewer (some barristers can think rather a lot of themselves). Accept it will happen and look forward to the next one. As Joanna Hardy, and Taylor Swift, put it: ‘Shake it off.’
The Chair of the Bar reports back
By Kem Kemal, CEO, Henry Dannell
By BSK Financial Planning
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs
Susie Griffin on the admin that keeps barristers from billable work
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, explains how global events can influence the performance of pensions and ISAs, and why taking a long-term approach to investing is often the most effective strategy
Kick off your career at the Bar Council’s Pupillage Fair this October – it’s one of the most valuable opportunities for aspiring barristers, says Amelia Clegg
Join us on Saturday 21 November 2026 at Leeds Beckett University and see for yourself why the North continues to be an exceptional place to build a career at the Bar
The golden age of advocacy? David Langwallner pays homage to the filmic if contentious barrister Sir Edward Carson and some of his contemporaries
Henry Fingerhut outlines what the Bar Standards Board AI guidance means for early career barristers
Not yet, says Jacob Turner. Regulation, unlike the technology itself, is a domain the legal profession can still control
