LegalWeek report today that “Bar students’ prospects of securing a pupillage have reached an all-time low, new Bar Council figures have shown.”
The report continues – worryingly… “The first-ever Bar Council survey of student trends published today (16 October), found that of the 71.5% that had applied for a pupillage, over half (51%) had not received an interview. Of those who did get an interview, 49.8% did not receive an offer.
The statistics mean that just 17.5% of Bar Vocational Course (BVC) students who apply for pupillages are likely to secure one. It is estimated that 500-550 students will be offered pupillages in 2005-06, compared with 598 the year before, despite the number of students going up.”
You may read the full report from The Bar Council here.
What is particularly worrying is that while prospects of obtaining a pupillage are going down, numbers enrolling on the BVC are going up. I have a number of concerns here. Firstly, given that Law School admissions tutors ought to be aware of the difficulties of securing pupillage (and are certainly better placed than students to have an overview of trends over the past few years), are they advising students properly of these difficulties when the student applies to enrol on their BVC course? Secondly, are students being properly advised at their university about the difficulties faced by young (or not so young) prospective barristers in terms of getting a pupillage, let alone a tenancy?
To this I add a third question: Do law schools offering the BVC have a duty of care to inform prospective applicants for the BVC about these difficulties and, if so, how much information should they provide to prospective BVC applicants about the reality of obtaining a pupillage and a tenancy?
I have spoken to a number of practising barristers. Some take a robust view and say that competition at the Bar is fairly fierce but tend to the view that prospective applicants should be given a ‘health warning’ – given the high level of debt being taken on by many who decide to read for the Bar.
I take a fairly robust view myself, given my experience in legal education, that it is important for law schools offering the BVC to make it very clear to prospective students that their chances of getting a pupillage are not high, and that it even more difficult to get a tenancy. Others in the academic world, I know, do not share my view.
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It would be interesting to hear from current BVC students or recently qualified barristers… please feel free to comment in the comments section.
I remain of the opinion that the barrister’s profession is completely screwed up in the education and training phase, and the long-term consequences may be what finally kills us as a profession at least in recognisable form. This is largely the fault of the bar council who have made consistently daft decisions.
But on this particular point, already when I joined my Inn as a student, some years ago now, we were presented by the Inn with a grim sheet of statistics: numbers entering bar school, obtaining pupillage, and obtaining tenancy over the last few years (I think the last number was less than 1/3 of the first, though the numbers were always skewed by commonwealth etc students who came here to train but didn’t ever intend to practice here). Those of us who looked at that sheet and went on knew or ought to have known we were taking a gamble.
It’s a high risk profession to start out in, and always has been, particularly if you have no private funds behind you. It’s not getting easier, and these days you’ll be lucky if a pupillage committee gives your application more than half a minute’s consideration if you don’t have a first (or at worst a 2:1) from a decent university or something else remarkably special on your cv. But that’s the market, innit: if there are only 500 or so pupillages chances are there’ll only be 500 or so tenancies, which indicates there’s only work for 500 or so juniormost tenants -we certainly take on more pupils than we expect to offer tenancies. I don’t believe there are chambers out there so swamped with work for the junior junior bar they are turning it away (and if I’m wrong about that with regard to my own chambers I shall have to have the clerks shot).
What’s the alternative? And there’s a part of me that thinks anyone who can’t work all that out shouldn’t be in the market in the first place.
(My own suspicion is that in time becoming a barrister will be something people do after qualifying as a solicitor and dealing with their debts etc, rather than a parallel profession as it is now)
Useful comment – thanks Liadnan.
I have spoken to a few more practitioners who are interested in legal education and there are concerns that, perhaps, there are too many BVC places being offered.
Dear Charon,
Any attempt to restrict access to the BVC, however well-intentioned, will be wide open to familiar accusations of anti-competitiveness and elitism.
One less controversial way of addressing the problem would be to change the timetable of applications.
As things stand, one may apply for pupillage in the 3rd Year of an LLB or during the CPE, with pupillage nearly always timetabled to start in the October after the BVC. Pupillage applicants are thereby coralled into reserving a place for the forthcoming BVC year before they have any meaningful indication of the likelihood of their securing pupillage.
A couple of leading sets now offer deferred places, allowing successful applicants the chance, should they wish, to join the BVC in the following year, safe in the knowledge that they have a pupillage to work towards. But these opportunities are scarce. The majority of applicants are caught in the trap of needing to pay for the BVC while the pupillage carrot is still being dangled.
An easy solution to the problem would be for the Bar Council to demand that the BVC commence in, say, January and for applications to close in, say, October of the previous year. This would allow students a clear run at pupillage interviews over the summer, after which thet coould make their own assessment as to the value of proceeding on to the BVC. By this method, unsuccessful applicants who are determined to persevere could still pursue their dream while others could turn to other professions and save themselves a fortune, reassured by the fact that they had given the Bar their best shot.
I utterly deplore the mercenary encouragement given by the Law Schools to enrol on courses which will avail them nothing. Equally, I worry that any overt regulation of entry sends out the wrong social signals. The merits of the above system are that it will significantly diminish the number of futile applicions and do so by virtue of student choice alone.
Thank you for taking the time to post. I agree with your point on competition and elitism (I am also quite keen on diversity – as you have probably gathered!)
I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with competition – that is part of the tradition of the Bar and practice generally in law, as it is in many other walks of life. Informed decision making is the key – and I take the view that law schools offering the BVC are obliged (or ought to be) to provide clear information and opinion on each applicant’s chances. I doubt whether a student with a lower second, from a lesser regarded university, who goes on to do an undistinguished BVC, will appeal to a set of chambers.
Life has changed since the Sixties and Seventies. It is far more difficult to succeed in practice now – the competition is greater. (The Bar has always been competitive.) There are more applicants for fewer places (pro rated) and less work at the junior bar – certainly in terms of common law litigation: or so I am advised by those who are in practice now.
Doing a BVC is a serious decision. If, after weighing up all the facts, the statistics, after talking to tutors and those in practice, a student decides to read for the Bar – that is informed decision making. I do think admissions tutors should look carefully at the candidate’s prospects – rather than just the colour of the ink on the cheque.
Caveat emptor?
As a second year law student at a well respected university, who has aspired to become a barrister for 5 years now, I am finding my prospects of fulfilling my dream at an all time low.
Numerous figures are banded about in various law columns and the feeling of ever becoming a barrister feels like it relies soley on whether daddy has already got his foot in the door through some avenue or other.
I am student who unfortunately falls into several “minority groups”: I’m female, non-european background, 2nd generation immigrant, state-school educated and arguably economically ‘working class’, plus I have not held any ‘leadership positions’ at my university (although if i was studying English or Art History I may well have done- no bitterness whatsoever).
But what chance does someone like me have in overcoming the strenous hurdles of becoming a qualified practising barrister? Yet I have been pursuing this dream and working towards it for almost five years. To get here after blood sweat and tears from not only myself, but from my family too, and to suddenly be forced to change course is almost inconcievable, not just psychologically but financially also. Why does the system have to fail someone like me?
Surely, the Bar and all the various institutions that contribute to gaining the sought after qualification should adapt to the welcomed challenges a 21st century British society throws and I am not suggesting eradicating healthy and necessary competition which the Bar field encompasses, but by means of opening up more pupillages or tenancies then so they should- it’s a simple command of supply and demand.
Having only half stepped into the regal world of the law, I am probably not yet qualified to suggest radical improvisations for the system.
However, I do believe I am qualified to raise the point to heed attention from the grand high powers to so-called ‘misfortunes’ like myself so that in the very near future the archaic world of the Bar doesn’t work against us and that we can have an equal chance to succeed as much as the next white middle classed Etonian Oxbridge graduate I’ll be sitting next to in my BVC class.
S … a very thoughtful comment. I may well do a follow up to this particular post. Was talking with a friend of mine tonight who has just retired as one of the more senior partners at Slaughter & May. We were both reflecting on the fact that 30 years ago it was easier to get in – law firms and Chambers were smaller and less concerned with law school grades.
You make some very interesting points – if I may say so. Don’t be too disprited – the competition is quite strong – but if you know what you are dealing with, you are able, at least to address those matters!
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
[…] I commented on the pupillage problem a few weeks ago. Just as important as the pupillage isue – and certainly very encouraging, Lord Justice Neuberger said: “It is equally essential that the legal profession, and that the Bar in particular, should have access to the best talent among aspiring barristers, regardless of background.” […]
S: I think that a lot has changed regarding diversity. The full report spells out that women and ethnic minorities are at least, if not more, likely to achieve pupillage that traditional white males. A lot of presumptions about the Bar have been challenged over the last decade or so, and whilst the top end of the Bar (e.g. number of QCs) is still unrepresentative, I would expect a “trickle up” effect over the course of the years.
That said, I don’t feel expanding the number of pupillages is a sensible route. We both know that unfunded pupillages would harm diversity. The amount of work on the civil side has been reduced by the CPR and increased dispute resolution at an earlier stage, so less litigation is around. The criminal and family Bar have been consistently squeezed by the Government, and it’s unclear what the impact of Carter will be. Ultimately, there is only so much work to go around.
I have, for a while, been sceptical of the Bar’s concern over entry to the profession. If there were genuinely such concerns, something would have been done, or attempted, to address this reality of the growing BVC numbers and dwindling pupil places. There is now talk of deferring Call. Wow that is a progressive move!
I am not advocating reducing the number of BVC places, as I cannot see how this can be done, but I am inclined to ask why pupillage is considered to be the only way train barristers for practice? Is pupillage even a proportionate response to meeting the Bar’s own training objectives?
It is always mildly amusing to hear that competition at the Bar is fairly fierce; I have always thought it was competition to enter into practice at the Bar was where the real difficulty lay. On analysis though, if the Bar manages to maintain the latter, they can reduce or minimise the former.
As I read this post, to and fro,
I can only be filled with a bit of woe
For in this country class still abounds
Professions restricted, no pupilages to be found
It is in these times that I am thankful for where I am from
For in the new world, across the sea
Is a society built on true opportunity
Merit, ambition, hard work, and good cheer
Advances the young to professions restricted over here
I fear P
you will see
that where the grass seems greener
life is seamier
Charonqc is right:
A major problem is the “open access” nature of the BVC.
As a result we have a system which admits 1500 trainee barristers a year regardless of ability or degree classification.
Sadly the BVC is a commercial enterprise and as a result there is little incentive for providers to restrict access.
The second problem appears to be that pupillage places are at an all time low. I would like to think that this may correct itself in the next few years as surely the current situation cannot be allowed to continue.
I have worked closely with lawyers and longed to be a barrister and decided to give up my job as a manager in the civil service to become a full-time law student.
So I am a mature student and have 2:2 law degree and a LLM in European Law. For me, and I’m sure I’m not alone it has been rejection after rejection. It has been so soul destroying- and each time I think about the future I can’t visualise myself doing anything else.
What is the way forward?
I do delibertate whether I should become a solicitor instead- not to say that it is less competitive but it might be easier to secure a training contract than a pupillage.
I would be grateful of some advice.
The Bar… it is true… is competitive and mature students do have to accept that it is more difficult… but, depending on background, skills, expertise mature students may well have an advantage. It must be worth putting a few feelers out to firms of solicitors. There is, I suspect, a higher degree of security – in terms of salary – working for a firm of solicitors.
Phone a few managing partners / recruitment departments at law firms and ask their advice ?
My partner is in the last weeks of his BVC and is trying very hard to get a pupillage, but thus far it has been rejection all the way. It’s got to the stage where he’s beginning to think about career paths other than law.
I know I am a bit late to this discussion, but do you have any advice about what other sorts of things a qualified barrister could do?
Unless one has a 1st from a top 10 uni (or a 2.1 from oxbridge), isn’t the better route to first qualify as a solicitor in say criminal practice or litigation, work for a few years (networking along the way with established counsel), and then attempt to cross over by doing a reduced pupillage? I would think certain chambers would be more than happy to recruit new barristers that way from firms they already work with, recruiting lawyers they already know and hold in regard, not to mention the flow of work. Further, qualified solicitors transferring this way are not subject to restrictions like OLPAS etc, but can apply to as many chambers as they want. They don’t have to wait once per year, and can keep on applying while all the time working as a solicitor. Not to mention the boon it would be to have a few years of criminal/family/litigation experience under your belt. And of course, ever so important at the bar (esp. in crime and common law) is the added maturity you’ll bring.
Failing that, if you really want to be an advocate, then qualify as a solicitor at a small litigation, criminal or public law firm, get a few years experience – learning everything you possibly can! – get higher rights, make the clients happy, and then set up your own niche practice. You could become a family lawyer, or a litigator serving the needs of smaller clients than the big london firms do.
These two routes seem much nicer than going for the bar in the pupillage lottery at the great old age of 21!
I love the way that the Olpas website patronises you with “best for finding the right chambers for you’.
I would take any chambers, even if it was 200 miles away.
Anyone know if there is a realistic chance of a return to unfunded pupillages?
Dear All,
I can honestly say that my search for pupillage has been the most demoralising chapter in my life.
When the legal profession is so large, I truly cannot understand why it is so difficult to complete training for the Bar.
If you are any good as a Barrister, this is a matter for judgement and assessment at a later stage.
Everyone who has passed the BVC ought to have a decent shot at completing their training as a Barrister.
My experience has also made be particularly determined and I will leave no stone unturned before I quit seeking for that pupillage!
Dear D
What stage are you at?
It sounds as you have passed the BVC. Have you had any interviews and if so how have they gone?
A group of us who are undergraduates can’t even get interviews. We really hope that this changes once we start the BVC.
Dear M,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I have indeed passed the BVC and also been Called to the Bar.
Despite the fact that I am thirty-something, I have been really fortunate anough to have had two interviews for pupillages within Chambers. Both interviews were within small Common Law sets around the London area. My last interview had over 200 applicants for only one pupillage! I have also had to face around 50 rejections from my other pupillage applications within Chambers which was pretty depressing as you can imagine but you need to be really stubborn-minded if you are going to get that pupillage and do whatever it takes to improve your CV such as getting some decent legal experience either before or after the BVC and importantly to get the type of legal experience that would be relevant to your application for pupillage.
I hold an Upper Second Class Honours Degree but from one of the new Universities, took the City CPE and have another Postgraduate Diploma in a law-related area. I have a state school background but decided to make the most of the opportunities around me and have a fairly decent academic background. Not everyone can have a previleged educational backgound and it must be aptitude and enthusiasm which must finally determine entry to the Bar.
I sailed through receiving offers for the CPE and BVC but now appear to have stalled in terms of securing a pupillage, however, I always understood that this would be the most difficult stage of qualifying as a practising barrister. Especially at the present time when pupillages are at their lowest level ever.
My advice to any potential barrister, is to look very carefully at the Bar Council web-site which sets out Training Regulations on where exactly a pupillage can be completed. Remember, a pupillage can in most cases be completed within any country inside the European Union and not only within the United Kingdom as far as I have interpreted the Training Regulations correctly. Therefore, think gobally for those opportunities and not only domestically since there are many candidates for pupillages within the United Kingdom that come from all around the European Union. Also make sure you clear everything with the Bar Council first in terms of whether the particular training would qualify as a pupillage.
I believe that the Bar Council had been conducting a consulation last year in collaboration with the Department for Constitutional Affairs to examine the possibility of extending the scope of potential training organisations where a pupillage can be undertaken. At least the Bar Council is trying to do something about the situation given the fact that there are around 2500 applications for anywhere between 250-550 pupillages per year (based upon 2005/6 figures for pupillages from the Bar Council web-site and other quotations and figures).
My message to anyone that wants to complete their training as a barrister, is work as hard as you possibly can in your law degree, CPE and BVC. If you really want to be a barrister and have achieved a decent set of Examination results, DO NOT GIVE UP until the time period for completing your pupillage has expired – which is around six years from the date you pass the BVC. Get advice from the Chambers of your choice, on how you could improve your CV further and what type of legal experience would really enhance your prospects of obtaining a pupilage at that set of Chambers. Obviously, be realistic on where you apply, however, not all Chambers are looking for a first from Oxbridge, despite the bad rumours circulating among students.
Keep reasearching and digging away for those opportunities. I truly believe that persistence pays over the longer term! Stay completely focussed and really determined!
With my best wishes,
D from London
Hello all! I am currently a final year law student, and about to commence the Bar Vocational Course this autumn. Reading through everyone’s comments I have to confess I feel fairly discouraged about obtaining a pupilage. I am going to sit my exams this month and naturally hoping to attain a 2:1. My first question is, can anyone offer me any advice on what sort of points examiners are looking out for in an answer? I realise there is no right way of answering law questions; however i can’t help but wonder whether there isn’t a general method to be followed, whereby one ought to refer to certain points: such as referring to a recent development read about in the news regarding that particular area of the law, when answering an essay question? I am quite adamant to achieve that 2:1, especially in light of everyone’s comments on pupilages!!
d: i found your comment the most interesting. Thank you for offering advice, i found it very useful. As you seem to be one of the very few people who have actually obtained the sacred pupilage, could you please please advise me as to whether there is anything particular that impresses potential recruiters in a cv? aside from facing rejections for mini-pupilages, and planning to do some pro bono work during the bvc, i am not sure what else i should be aiming to undertake that will help me?
Thanks loads!!! x
Sai,
Learn how to spell ‘Pupillage’ correctly. Recruiters are always looking for something to mark you down on. Do not let it be a silly spelling error!
BVC places should be strictly limited. There is a complete absence of an interview process at present. It surprises me that there are corners of the applicant community that profess frustration at the current state of affairs. 17.5% as an entry rate is not far off that of, say, the diplomatic service. As a profession the bar is expected to deliver expertise (and perhaps focused specialisation in the future, bad news all round for provincial common law sets I hear at the mo.), so of course it is nigh on bloody impossible to get in!
I think a firm stance is quite correct Charon, ease any criteria and it will only come back to haunt the bar in 5 years time. The financial argument from many of the private businesses running law schools is pragmatic enough, however it should, as you say, be made clear that if your intention is to make your life’s work in crime/family law- the risk is palpable. However, I must say it all promotes an early start to a fruitful relationship with one’s bank manager, invaluable experience for those delayed cheques…
My experience at the bar as a young female from an extremely working-class background has been horrific. I worked extremely hard at University and secured a pupillage early on. However, I have struggled with tenancy. It is clear that the elitism of the bar is scandalous. I am a very good barrister, I have built a successful practice, I love my job and am very good at it, and have huge backing from the clerks. I am also well liked by members of chambers (or at least those who I have met). However, gaining tenancy (at some chambers at least) is not about being good at your job. It is a popularity contest. Therefore, the people who make it are quite often the ones who aren’t as good at their job, who aren’t as successful in building a practice, but who are very competent at “playing the game”. Succeeding at the bar is primarily a matter of politics. You seem to be far better hating your job and being terrible at it, yet putting all of your efforts to the good old-fashioned task of “brown nosing”. Of course, given the ingrained elitist attitudes of most chambers, particularly at the senior end, to be successful in this it helps if you are middle class, and have shared interests with the more “old boys network” barristers in chambers, who are the people with influence when it comes to tenancy decisions. It is a disgrace. There is real unfairness not only in obtaining pupillage but also in obtaining tenancy. Despite the bar protesting about equal opportunities and about opening its doors to people from underpriviledged backgrounds, this is not going to happen as there is no transparency and no accountability. There should be regulation of tenancy decisions and the tenancy decision process to ensure that it is fair. Unfortunately, people who signify the future of the bar are flocking away from it with tens of thousands of pounds of debt due to the masked snobbery and unfairness that permeates the tenancy decision making process.
Dear all,
I left a comment on June 27 2007, and am pleased to confirm that I now have six-months of pupillage completed and am now looking to complete the other six-months….
….and again, this is very likely to be another uphill battle and it is a shame that only around one in four or maybe one in five BVC graduates nowadays will ever get a decent shot at completing their pupillage….
I can only add that my experience has made me very strong as a person, and I think it is important for anyone facing problems securing a pupillage (and especially those who are at a young tender age) that this does not mean that they would not make an excellent lawyer….
If I do not manage to complete pupillage through the conventional route, I may consider going down the QLTT and solicitor route and then come back to the Bar.
Good luck to all determined BVC graduates out there…
Best wishes,
D from London
Excellent news – well done. Good luck!
Hello,nice share.
Hello,nice share.