Pupillage (otherwise known as the “work-based component”) is the final and practical stage of training to become a barrister, which you can commence up to five years after completing the Bar Professional Training Course (‘BPTC’) or, from September 2020 onwards, a Bar Standards Board approved training pathway (otherwise known as the “vocational component”).

Pupillages are either completed in a set of chambers or with another approved organisation (such as the Government Legal Department or the Crown Prosecution Service). Pupillages usually start in September or October, one year after you have been made an offer (so successful May 2021 applicants will commence pupillage in autumn 2022).

The rules and regulations governing pupillage are set out in the Bar Standards Board Bar Qualification Manual which all aspiring barristers, current pupils, supervisors and AETOs should study.

Most pupillages last 12 months but, depending on the AETO, can last up to 24 months. They are formally divided into two periods: non-practising and practising. During the non-practising period, pupils will be assigned a pupil supervisor; a barrister in the same AETO who the pupil will shadow, and for whom the pupil will undertake supervised work, such as legal research and drafting court documents. The pupil will also accompany the pupil supervisor to court and conferences with clients. During the practising period, pupils will be eligible to undertake cases of their own, albeit under supervision, and will begin to build up their own contacts and a client base. Until they have completed their pupillage and hold a full practising certificate, all pupils are covered by their supervisor’s Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund insurance.

Between 1 January and 31 December 2020, AETOs will be required to fund pupillages with a minimum award of £18,866 per year for pupillages in London and £16,322 per year for pupillages outside London (these minimum amounts will increase yearly in line with inflation). Some pupillage providers provide considerably larger awards; particularly chancery and commercial sets, which are competing with the large commercial law firms for applicants – please see individual vacancies for further information.

Scholarships are not generally available for pupillage and are only offered by the Inns to support aspiring barristers throughout their GDL and BPTC or approved training pathway.

In order to have the non-practising period signed off, pupils currently need to pass an assessed advocacy course taught by their Inn or Circuit.

From 2021, pupils will also need to complete a compulsory negotiation skills course and an ethics exam during their pupillage.

Recruitment methods vary between pupillage providers, but decisions about ‘tenancy’ (long-term places in chambers) are usually made about 10 months into pupillage. Competition for tenancy can be strong, with some chambers taking on several pupils but only retaining one as a tenant. Other sets of chambers take on every pupil with a view to making them a tenant if they perform well. Appraisal might be based simply on the assessments of the supervisors, or pupils might be expected to take part in a formal mock advocacy exercise or interview.

Once barristers become a tenant, their income will come entirely from the work that they take on, either in their own right or, at the start of their career, when acting as the junior member within a team of barristers. With the support of their ‘clerks’ or ‘practice managers’ (who are responsible for assigning work to the barristers in their chambers and, in many cases, generating new business), members of chambers are expected to build up a reputation amongst potential clients and a network of solicitors who will ‘instruct’ them (essentially paying you to provide specialist services) on a regular basis.

Most chambers will require their tenants to pay a proportion of their earnings (‘rent’) to cover the costs of chambers’ employees and other shared overheads.

Pupils who do not gain tenancy at the chambers at which they completed their pupillage may be able to apply for a fixed-term practising period (also known as a “third six pupillage”) or tenancy at another set. Whilst third six pupillages are not considered to be an additional period of training, they allow barristers to gain exposure to other types of work and will give them another chance to apply for a permanent tenancy within the set at a later stage.