Q1: Mini-pupillages
How many mini-pupillages should you do? Does it matter where and at what stage you do them?
posted by tor at 1:46 PM
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
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4 Comments:
I did 6 mini-pupillages and 1 week at a firm of solicitors. I was advised to do some work experience at a solicitors' firm so that I could answer the question 'why do you want to be a barrister and not a solicitor' convincingly! It was actually quite fun and I was asked that question, (for example at an Inn of Court scholarship interview), so I guess it might have helped.
I did mini-pupillages at sets I planned to apply to pupillage for, and tried to only do them at sets which claimed they were compulsory or strongly recommended. I would recommend doing assessed ones as a priority - it sounds more stressful, but it means that when you apply they have some extra information about you that they can't get from an OLPAS form, which can only help (assuming you didn't make a complete mess of the assessment). Assessed minis might be a good way of compensating for any weaknesses in your CV.
So, my advice would be to choose where to do them on the same basis that you choose where to apply for real. Of course, if you don't yet know what areas of law you want to practise in, that might be tricky - you'd have to take a less targeted approach.
As for when to do them, I did all mine during the CPE. It meant I used up all my holidays, but I think it was worth it. (Although in retrospect I'd recommend doing them during term time since it's easy to catch up on lectures and classes in the holidays). I think the opportunity to find out whether you like the people/atmosphere/range of work is invaluable. And, if you're lucky, you might make friends with a pupil or recent tenant who can offer you useful advice on applying for pupillage later on.
My tuppence-worth is: don't do too many. By that I mean try and do a representative spread or try and cover all chambers in your chosen field (if it is a small enough field). What I advise against is doing all chambers BUT ONE in your field. It seems obvious because you will be disadvantaged at that one chambers [and it might tip the balance], but when the time comes, if you have trundled through your pupillages in a piece-meal fashion, you may find that is exactly what you do as you run out of time and motivation. So my summary of that is: have a coherent plan of action re mini pupillages at the earliest possible time.
(posted on behalf of Claire)
I did a vacation placement at a Magic circle solicitors firm, a week at my local county court, a week at a local solicitors, two criminal mini-pupillages, and five civil mini-pupillages.
I would definitely recommend trying to see a wide range of work, as this can be really helpful when trying to fill in your OLPAS form box about why you are interested in your chosen areas of law and something to chat about in interviews.
I'd try and work out early which chambers you are interested in require mini-pupillages, and get the assessed minis done as soon as possible.. I ended up doing two assessed minis straight after three weeks of CPE exams and right in the middle of OLPAS interviews, which wasn't ideal.
Chambers seem to have varying attitudes towards mini-pupillages. Some seem to recognise that applications to do mini-pupillages can be fairly speculative when done a long time before applying for pupillage and don't give mini-pupillages much weight, whereas others are very impressed if you've done mini-pupillages with leading sets.. My advice would be to investigate which are the leading sets in your chosen field early on and try and get a few mini-pupillages under your belt at that stage.
Finally, don't expect mini-pupillages to be anything like vacation placements. Many a mini-pupil just gets packed off to some court at the other end of London and doesn't get to see anything you wouldn't do sitting in the public gallery, or else you may be sat in a cupboard in chambers for a week and occasional files for you 'to read' will be put on your desk. Its important to just try and make the most of any chances you get during that week to speak to people, and not take it to heart if they haven't got too much time to speak to you.
I think it is worth doing mini-pupillages in different practice areas which will expose you to a range of work and different kinds of working life. This is good because it gives one a better overall understanding. It is also good because it allows you to see what you don't want to do, which I think is nearly as important as what you do want to do. One can present quite a convincing argument in interviews along the lines of "My mini-pupillage doing probate litigation [or whatever] showed me that I particularly relish advocacy in my working life [or whatever your angle may be]; you, however, have more advocacy-led practices, which is good because...". In addition, it shows you have some curiosity about the law, which is no bad thing. While doing the CPE, it often struck me that some people had very fixed ideas about what work they were and weren't interested in, without the facts to support the assumtions. Pupillage interviewers will know that students rarely understand much about the bar, so one may be able to impress by showing that one has looked around and made informed choices.
However. 2 caveats: the above is probably less applicable if you seriously wish to apply to highly specialised sets, who do eg planning/intellectual property/tax/EC competition. I am not at that kind of set, but I imagine they will want you to show dedication to their unique area. 2nd caveat: you can go too far in applying broadly. Even the generalist sets will have certain practice areas in which they specialise, and if one's experience is in every area but theirs, it will look unfocussed.
On a different subject, I agree with Tor that spending time with solicitors is very useful, both to answer the question "why do you want to be a barrister and not a solicitor", and also to give one an idea of what solicitors want from the bar. Showing that one understands this, and how the market for legal servies operates, will definitely impress. The bar is highly competitive, so it is worth understanding one's professional client.
I found it very useful to keep a note of who I met and what work I saw during mini-pupillages. Although it may seem unforgeettable at the time, after doing a few mini-pupillages it may be difficult to recall what you did six months ago. If you can remember which courts you attended, with whom, what kind of case and what kind of client, and perhaps a bit about the judge and the result, it will come across well at interview
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