November Cometh
“No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member — No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! — November!”
Horace Rumpole, quoting Thomas Hood as he strolled through Inner Temple
We’ve reached that most wonderful time of year: pupillage season is on its way, and no doubt watching that restless countdown on the bar above fills you with tremendous excitement. I am writing this as I anticipate going to my second of three pupillage open evenings this week, and thought to share some general advice on how to go about them.
Of course, I write this not as somebody who has successfully navigated the pupillage process, but as somebody who has attended a fair few of these evenings, made a few mistakes, and observed a few more. Take the following, therefore, as the observations of a fellow (weary) traveller.
Do: Prepare Beforehand
Before attending an open evening, take some time to acquaint yourself with chambers. This need not be an arduous exercise in legal scholarship, nor am I suggesting that you spend the preceding fortnight reading every reported judgment in which a member has appeared.
Have a look at the chambers website. Familiarise yourself with its principal practice areas, the sorts of cases its members undertake, and the way in which pupillage is structured. If there is a particular area of practice that interests you, see whether there are members whose work reflects that interest.
A little preparation goes a long way. It allows you to ask more interesting questions, makes conversations considerably easier, and demonstrates that your attendance is motivated by something more substantial than the prospect of free wine.
Do: Ask Questions
The principal purpose of these evenings is to learn about chambers, and there is no better way to do so than by asking questions. There may come a point during the evening where there is a question-and-answer session before an audience. By all means, this is the perfect time to ask any questions that you do have about chambers, practice, or the panel's personal journeys.
I would particularly suggest questions about the things that cannot readily be discovered from the chambers website (in any case, asking "is this a criminal set?" strongly implies that you haven’t done your homework.)
- What does an ordinary day in practice look like?
- How much responsibility is afforded to pupils?
- What sort of work do junior tenants undertake?
- What do members enjoy most about their respective practices?
- What does the application process entail?
These are not only interesting questions in themselves, but they may furnish you with useful material when the inevitable question of why this chambers? appears on your application. More importantly, they may help you decide whether you actually want to practise there.
Don’t: Ask Personal Questions in the Q&A
A panel-based Q&A is not the time to ask the dreaded, personal question: “I’m predicted X grade at Y university, I’m really into motorcycles, I have done Z amount of moots — do you think I’m a likely candidate?”
This is a very concise way of putting that question, and from my experience they tend to be far more beleaguered. I say this as a word of warning, as I too asked such a question at my first pupillage event: “You say to write about what makes you interesting; well, I’m really interested in railway history, does that count?” No!
Far from just a personal peeve, I make this observation for two main reasons. Firstly, there is little chance the panel will be able to answer you — whether or not you will succeed in obtaining pupillage depends on a plethora of factors that the poor panel cannot possibly assess immediately. Secondly, because you are, frankly, taking up everyone else’s time, as well as the panel’s, on a question that is only of utility to yourself (and very limited utility at that.)
By all means, approach an individual member at the reception afterwards and have a conversation along these lines. But when you have the attention of a room full of aspiring barristers, try to ask something from which the room might collectively benefit.
Do: Make the Most of the Hospitality
Many chambers will offer refreshments at these events, and in the good tradition of the English Bar there is likely to be alcohol served - by all means, imbibe. Likewise, if there are canapés, help yourself. Indeed, having something in your hand can be a rather useful social instrument when you find yourself standing awkwardly in a room full of strangers.
More generally, do enjoy yourself. These evenings are, after all, social occasions, and there is something rather wonderful about being invited into the very chambers in which you might one day hope to practise. You are there to meet people, have conversations, and get a sense of the place – on an application, when you come to be asked “why this chambers?”, you can reasonably say: I’ve visited you, and I enjoyed it.
Don’t: Overindulge
Social though it may be, this is a professional event. Drink slowly, mind your wits, and if you are a lightweight, eat alongside it (always go on a full stomach). You don’t want your lasting impression to be that silly fool who was slurring their words and acting inappropriately.
I would go further and say that the availability of free alcohol is not a challenge to be undertaken. Perhaps there is a time and a place for drinking rather more than is advisable, but a pupillage open evening is neither. You might think yourself tremendously charming after your fourth glass of wine; I assure you, the barrister who has been cornered by you for the last twenty minutes may have formed a different opinion.
Do: Speak to as Many People as You Can
It is very easy to attend one of these evenings, find a particularly agreeable member of chambers, and spend the entire reception in conversation with them. Certainly, if you find yourself having an interesting discussion, there is no reason to abandon it prematurely. But try to speak to a range of people.
In particular, do not neglect the pupils and junior tenants. There is a natural temptation to gravitate towards the silks and senior juniors, particularly if you have read about some of their more interesting cases. But the pupil who obtained pupillage last year may be considerably better placed to tell you about the application process, and what life as a junior in chambers might look like.
Equally, speak to the clerks if the opportunity arises. They have a rather different perspective on the workings of chambers, and often a very useful one. The Bar is, after all, not composed exclusively of barristers.
Don’t: Monopolise People
Remember that everybody else has come to the evening for much the same reason as you. If you have had a good conversation, thank the person for their time and move on. There is nothing wrong with leaving a conversation while it is still enjoyable. Indeed, I suspect it is preferable to remaining until the other person is desperately searching for an excuse to escape.
Do: Speak to Your Fellow Applicants
It can be tempting to view everybody else in the room as competition. After all, a great many of you will be applying for the same handful of pupillages, and there is a certain inevitability to comparing yourself with those around you.
Nevertheless, I would encourage you to strike up conversations with your fellow applicants. Some may have attended other open evenings and have useful observations to share. Others may have interests or experiences entirely different from your own. And some may simply provide welcome company when you find yourself standing awkwardly beside the refreshments table.
The Bar is a relatively small profession, and the people you meet during the application process may well become your colleagues or opponents in years to come. There is no reason that those relationships should begin only once somebody has secured pupillage.
Besides, there is something comforting about discovering that everybody else is just as bewildered by the process as you are.
Do: Take Something Away from the Evening
Once the evening has concluded, I would recommend making a few notes about what you have learnt. Not necessarily immediately, and certainly not while somebody is speaking to you, but at some point before the details begin to fade.
What did you learn about the structure of pupillage? Did a member say something particularly interesting about their practice? Did the pupils appear happy? Was there something about the atmosphere of chambers that appealed to you, or indeed something that did not?
These are all useful observations, particularly when you come to write your applications. Chambers websites can sound remarkably similar after you have read enough of them, and the particular things that distinguish one set from another are often better discovered through conversation.
I would also suggest reflecting on whether you could actually see yourself practising there. It is easy to become so preoccupied with the question of whether chambers would want you that you forget to consider whether you would want chambers.
Some Parting Words
I hope the foregoing has been of some utility. It is, of course, entirely possible that I shall attend my next open evening and proceed to disregard half of my own advice. Such is the difficulty of offering guidance on matters in which one remains very much a student.
But I think the central point is this: pupillage open evenings ought to be enjoyed. The application process is sufficiently gruelling without turning every interaction with a member of the Bar into a miniature ordeal. These evenings offer a rare opportunity to look behind the imposing doors of chambers, speak candidly with those who practise there, and discover something of the profession into which we are all so eager to enter.
So ask questions, make conversation, enjoy the hospitality, and remember that the people on the other side of the room are, notwithstanding their wigs, gowns, and impressive professional achievements, human beings.
And, if you do find yourself standing beneath the portraits of long-departed Benchers, clutching a glass of wine and wondering quite how to introduce yourself to a silk, take some comfort in the knowledge that you are almost certainly not the only one.
November may have no warmth, no cheerfulness, and no comfortable feel in any member, but at least it offers us the prospect of pupillage.
Good luck!
Jared Higgins
Founder, PupillagePulse