You must be confident that you will have passed the Bar Training Course before the advertised start date of any pupillage that you apply for. For example, applicants in the penultimate year of a law degree, or final year of a non-law degree, may apply only to Authorised Education and Training Organisations that are offering pupillage to start two years from the date of application, whereas applicants in the final year of a law degree, or studying a conversion course, may apply to Authorised Education and Training Organisations offering pupillage to start one year from the date of application.

You must start pupillage within five years of passing the Bar Training Course (previously known as the Bar Professional Training Course). If you receive an offer of pupillage and have exceeded the five year limitation period, you must make a waiver application to the Bar Standards Board.

Please refer to the timetable page on this website.

The mandatory recruitment timetable is set annually by the Bar Council and approved by the Bar Standards Board. The current timetable has been in place since 2017.

The Bar Council carried out a detailed consultation on the recruitment timetable in June 2023 entitled ‘Call for Feedback: Moving the Pupillage Gateway Timetable’, which explored different alternatives. Following analysis of the responses received, it was determined to maintain the timetable already in place. The timetable is supported by an Equality Impact Assessment, and is designed to give candidates plenty of time to submit their applications. Reasonable adjustments can be made in certain circumstances. Further details on that are set out below.

A Sample Application Form is made available to aspiring barristers year-round and applicants are normally given a period of ten weeks in which to prepare their applications (five of which are allocated to the submissions window). The new Pupillage Gateway also allows candidates to add, edit, and remove the information relating to their work experience, employment, and education history throughout the year.

The Pupillage Gateway makes applying for pupillage easier than ever before. After you have set up your account, you can start to prepare by uploading information relating to your academic and work experience history, and referees. This information will be automatically copied across to the applications that you make.

To help you fully prepare, we have produced a Sample Application Form (Word, 166KB) for you to download and complete, and the bespoke questions asked by the Authorised Education and Training Organisations that use the system to manage the recruitment of their pupils will be included within their advertisements, ahead of the opening of the application window.

Whilst all Authorised Education and Training Organisations must use the Pupillage Gateway to advertise, they are not mandated to use the recruitment portal to assist in the administration of their respective processes. For those who manage their recruitment process outside the Pupillage Gateway, please refer to the instructions in the relevant advertisement or to the Authorised Education and Training Organisations website for further details.

You can tailor any sections of your application not relating to your academic and work experience history, which will be automatically copied across to the applications that you make.

You may submit up to 20 applications with Authorised and Education Training Organisations that are using the Pupillage Gateway to manage their recruitment process, and an unlimited number of applications to those Authorised and Education Training Organisations that are not using the Pupillage Gateway to facilitate their recruitment process.

Authorised and Education Training Organisations that are using the Pupillage Gateway to manage their recruitment process will be identifiable by their use of the following text under the ‘How to Apply’ section of their advertisement: Aspiring barristers are invited to apply to chambers between [date and date] using the Pupillage Gateway application system to search for the relevant Pupillage Vacancy and selecting ‘Apply for this pupillage. During the application window, an ‘Apply for this Pupillage’ button will also appear to the right-hand side of their advertisements.

No, the Pupillage Gateway is free to use for all aspiring barristers.

Authorised Education and Training Organisations are encouraged to update the status of applications on the Pupillage Gateway and to update each candidate at every stage of the recruitment process. You can login to your account and view the status of your applications at any time.

The Bar Council operates as a Licensed Sponsor on behalf of UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and is therefore able to provide Skilled Worker visas for funded pupil barristers and tenants working in chambers in England and Wales, enabling suitably qualified nationals who meet the qualifying criteria to train and practise at the Bar.

Please note that not all Authorised Education and Training Organisations offer pupillages to overseas students and you should therefore contact the ones that you are interested in applying to in order to find out whether they do. 

Transferring solicitors can search for vacancies and make applications using the Pupillage Gateway. It should be noted that Authorised Education and Training Organisations are no longer automatically exempt from the requirement to advertise and to fund pupillage where the prospective pupil has been awarded a waiver from the Vocational Component, so whilst relevant candidates can also approach Authorised Education and Training Organisations directly, if they are subsequently offered a pupillage, the Authorised Education and Training Organisations must apply to the Bar Standards Board for a funding and advertising waiver.

To register for an account, please go to the User Login page and follow these steps:

1. Select ‘Register now’ underneath the ‘Login’ heading.
2. Fill in your first name, last name, email address, and set a secure and memorable password for your account.
3. Confirm that you have read and agree to both the Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.
4. Click ‘I agree. Create my account’.
5. Check your email account for the welcome email. You will now be able to log in to the Pupillage Gateway using your email address and the password you chose in step two above.

If you haven’t received a welcome email from the Pupillage Gateway, then it may be because you have mistyped your email address. First, check your junk inbox and, if you can find no record of the email there, then contact the Bar Council Services Team at [email protected] for further assistance.

The first time you use the Pupillage Gateway, you will need to register for a new account. This applied to applicants who used the previous version of the Pupillage Gateway to make applications between March 2014 and September 2022. In subsequent years you will be able to use the same account to apply for vacancies. 

The information on your profile, relating to your academic and work experience history, and referees, will be stored on the system whilst your account remains active. It is advisable to update this before the submissions window opens, so the most up-to-date information is migrated across to any new applications that you make.

If you have forgotten your password an ‘Incorrect username or password’ error message will appear when attempting to login to the Pupillage Gateway. You can set a new password by using the ‘Forgot Password?’ reset button on the User Login page and clicking the link contained within the ‘Pupillage Gateway – Password Reset Request’ email that you will subsequently receive.

AETOs use tags such as ‘Crime’, ‘Property’, ‘Commercial’, ‘Family’ etc. in their advertisements to indicate which areas of practice their members specialise in. You can use the ‘Keywords’ box on the ‘Search for Pupillages’ page to search using these tags.

A ‘Saved Search’ is a saved set of pupillage vacancy criteria, used for two reasons:

1. To allow you to store your preferred criteria so you do not have to fill in the ‘Search Pupillage Vacancies’ form every time you access your account using the User Login page.
2. To send you email alerts when new pupillage vacancies matching your ‘Saved Searches’ criteria are advertised on the Pupillage Gateway.

To create a ‘Saved Search’, log in to your access your Pupillage Gateway account using the User Login page account and:

1. Click on ‘Search Pupillage Vacancies’ from the ‘Pupillage Vacancies’ dropdown menu.
2. Enter your desired criteria in the ‘Search Pupillage Vacancies’ form that appears on the left-hand side of the page and select ‘Search’.
3. At the top of your ‘Search Pupillage Vacancies’ results page, select the ‘Get Alerts on this Search’ button and ‘Save Search As’ a title of your choice, before hitting the plus symbol’.

You can access and delete your ‘Saved Searches’ by clicking on the relevant option from the ‘Pupillage Vacancies’ dropdown menu. Clicking on one of your ‘Saved Searches’ will open a new page containing a refreshed list of the vacancies that are relevant to it.

Your ‘Personal Information’, ‘Employment and Work Experience History’, and ‘Education History’ will automatically copy across to the applications that you are in the process of making or have already submitted, regardless of whether you edit the information in your ‘Profile’ or whilst making an application to a specific AETO.

Once you have started an application, your answers to the remaining fields contained within the form (not including those above) will automatically populate in the next application that you start. However, if you then start another before submitting the first, any edits that you make to the first will not be reflected in the second, and so on and so forth.

The remaining fields within the form (not including those above) are designed to be bespoke, and you should be able to edit the relevant sections of the applications that you have started without the changes that you have made to one appearing in another.

Is the information other than that contained within your ‘Personal Information’, ‘Employment and Work Experience History’, and ‘Education History’ copying across to other unsubmitted applications?

It may be because you have multiple applications open across multiple windows. To avoid this issue please ensure, when using the Pupillage Gateway, that you only work on one application at a time.

Check that you have completed all mandatory fields (marked with a red asterisk or as a ‘Required question’). If you have not done so then, when attempting to move on from a section of the Application using the ‘Next’ button, the relevant page will refresh and any fields that are incomplete and mandatory will contain a red box with the words ‘This field is required’. You will need to complete the field with the information requested to progress to the next section.

You can continue a partially completed application by accessing your Pupillage Gateway account using the User Login page account and clicking on ‘Continue Application’ button to the right-hand of the vacancy name.

• By email: You will receive an automated acknowledgement email from the Pupillage Gateway once you have successfully applied. Copies of these emails are in the ‘Emails Sent to You’ section of the platform, which is located at the bottom of your ‘Dashboard’.
• Application status: See the status of your application on the right-hand side of the relevant advertisement title under the ‘My Pupillage Applications’ section of your ‘Dashboard’. This will also change from ‘Incomplete’ to ‘In Process’.

If you have not received a ‘Confirmation of Application’ email from the Pupillage Gateway:

Check that you have submitted your application. To do so, you must have selected the ‘Submit’ button at the bottom of the ‘Summary Page Before Submitting’ that appears last in the application process for each AETO.

The Pupillage Gateway is designed to be environmentally friendly, and to that end you will not be able to print your applications from the system directly.

How to view submitted applications

• Access your Pupillage Gateway account using the User Login page account and clicking on ‘View my Pupillage Applications’ from the ‘Pupillage Vacancies’ dropdown menu
• a list of the AETOs that you have applied to and/or are in the process of applying to will appear.
• To review a submitted application, click the ‘View Application’ button to the right-hand of the vacancy name.

How to create a PDF of your application to share (by email or otherwise):

• select ‘View Application’
• scroll to the bottom of the page
• click the download icon

If you are acting inside the application window, you can edit the information relating to your academic and work experience history, and referees through your profile on the platform.

(Please note: doing so will edit the same information contained with any other applications, whether outstanding or submitted. You will not be able to edit any other information or withdraw an application and make a replacement one once you have submitted it.)

How to withdraw an application 

• Go to the User Login page account
• click on ‘View my Pupillage Applications’ from the ‘Pupillage Vacancies’ dropdown menu
• a list of the AETOs that you have applied to and/or are in the process of applying to will appear
• To withdraw the application, click the ‘View Application’ button to the right-hand of the vacancy name, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click ‘Withdraw Application’
• You will then be asked to confirm that you would like to withdraw your application.

If you opt to do so, your application will no longer appear to the relevant AETO when they are given access to them after the applications window has closed.

Please note: once you have withdrawn an application, you will not be able to make a new application to the same AETO from the same account. In exceptional circumstances, the Bar Council will be able to delete your application on your behalf, which will enable you to replace it with a new one.

If you would like assistance with this process, contact the Services Team at [email protected].

AETOs can contact you in several ways, including:

• through the Pupillage Gateway
• through their own business email accounts
• using any of the email addresses that you have associated with your application

We recommend that you check all relevant inboxes, as well as spam and junk mailboxes, of the accounts you used to set up your profile on the Pupillage Gateway and the one that you have included in your application (if different).

If you find an important message in your spam or junk folder(s), don’t forget to approve/whitelist the sender’s email address so that next time they contact you, their message goes straight to your inbox.

You can view any of the communications that AETOs send to you through the Pupillage Gateway in the ‘Emails Sent to You’ section of the platform, at the bottom of your ‘Dashboard’.

Use the easy-to-follow Applicant User Guide (PDF, 3.6MB), designed to help users navigate the Pupillage Gateway system.

If the issue persists, email the Bar Council Services Team at [email protected]. Include screenshots of the specific section that is causing you difficulties and any relevant error message(s), alongside a text version of the wording that you are attempting to input into your application form.

The more information that you give to the Services Team, the quicker they will be able to assist with your query.

The Bar Council will only extend the timetable for submissions if more than 1% of all candidates experience the same or similar unavoidable technical difficulties in submitting one or more applications, during the final 48 hours of the submissions window.

In these circumstances, the deadline will automatically be extended by up to 72 hours, and the Bar Council’s Director of Services will make the final decision regarding how long the deadline will be extended for.

Being able to meet deadlines and good organisation are essential skills for an aspiring barrister. All applicants using the site are therefore expected to plan their time to ensure that their applications are submitted before the advertised deadline.

However, the Bar Council recognises that there may sometimes be extenuating circumstances that are outside an applicant’s control, and which may result in them being unable to submit one or more applications for pupillage through the Pupillage Gateway.

Where you have experienced an unavoidable technical failure, you may obtain n MS Word version of your application form, which can be completed and sent out to AETO (provided they act quickly).

To ensure fairness, this exception will only be applied if specific circumstances are met, which are that a candidate has:

1. started an application on the Pupillage Gateway and
2. been affected by unavoidable technical failures that are unique to them, and:

• there is clear evidence that those technical failures are specifically caused by the Pupillage Gateway platform; and
• you have sought failed technical assistance from [email protected] within the final 48 hours of the submissions window; and
• you bring these facts to the attention of the Bar Council within 24 hours of the submissions window closing

You may request:

1. that the Bar Council retrieves, and sends you a copy of, your unsubmitted application from the Pupillage Gateway; and sends you an MS Word version of the Standardised Application Form, Authorised Education and Training Organisation Questionnaire, and Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form to complete; and
2. that the Bar Council sends the completed documents set out above to the relevant AETO(s) on your behalf, provided that you submit your completed application to the Bar Council within 48 hours of receipt of the documents.

Candidates should note that:

• Any decision to accept the candidate’s application form will ultimately be for the relevant AETO to make, and the Bar Council will not seek to influence their decision-making.
• This process cannot be used by candidates to start new applications following the closure of the submissions window. They must have started completing the Standardised Application Form associated with any given vacancy.
• Technical failures do not include incidences where a candidate has experienced an issue with the submission of their application form(s) which they could have resolved of their own volition - and following the information provided to them by the Pupillage Gateway - or where a candidate has been unable to submit their application form(s) due to a technical failure that is not connected to the Pupillage Gateway, for example where their laptop has died or they have lost internet connectivity etc.
• Failed technical assistance includes incidences where a candidate has requested support, but has not been able to implement the suggested solutions in time to submit the relevant application.

The Bar Council is committed to making reasonable adjustments to reduce substantial disadvantage for disabled people seeking a career at the Bar.

If you seek a reasonable adjustment in respect of the Pupillage Gateway, contact [email protected]. Candidates are responsible for ensuring that such requests are made in good time for them to be considered and implemented.

Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Bar Council’s Services Team. Where it is needed, advice may be sought from the organisation’s Equality, Diversity, and Social Mobility Committee.

During the operation of the mandatory recruitment timetable, we will aim to:

• acknowledge requests for reasonable adjustments within two working days 
• provide a full response within five working days

Our response will set out our decision about the request and, if we are not able to make a requested reasonable adjustment, we will explain why. The Bar Council will never pass on the cost of making a reasonable adjustment to the individual who requests it.

The Bar Council is only able to consider requests that specifically relate to the Pupillage Gateway platform.

If seeking a reasonable adjustment relating to your respective assessment or interview processes, or methods of communication, or otherwise, contact the AETO directly.

When handling requests for reasonable adjustments, the Bar Council relies on the definition of disability provided by the Equality Act 2010. Under the Act, a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial (more than minor or trivial) and long-term (12 months or longer) adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

A copy of the Bar Council’s Services Complaints Policy is available on our website.

In the first instance, you should raise your complaint informally with a member of the Services Team, by emailing them at [email protected].