Barristers' timeline

27 March 2009

The route to qualifying as a barrister can be broken down into three parts. The academic stage covers your degree. For non-law graduates this also includes the conversion course. This is in turn followed by the vocational stage, which covers the Bar Vocational Course (BVC). The final stage is known as a pupillage.

School/sixth form college

• Aim to get A grades in at least three academic A-levels. Try to get some work experience in the legal sector – for example at a high street solicitors’ firm or your local branch of the Crown Prosecution Service.
• Apply to university.
• Sign up for the Lawyer2B.com Editor’s Weekly for must-read careers advice and all the latest news and features on the events shaping the legal market.

University: first-year law students

• Join your university student law society, as it will be a valuable source of careers-related information.
• Get involved in mooting and debating. Participate in pro bono activities (it is becoming increasingly common foruniversities to run pro bono clinics, but if your university doesn’t have one, why not set one up?).
• Look into other useful law and non-law-related work experience.
• Keep visiting Lawyer2B.com and read Lawyer 2B (you can pick up copies from your law school or careers library).

University: second-year law students/final year non-law students

In the autumn term:

• Research what type of chambers you want to apply to for pupillage.
• Attend events hosted by your careers department.

During the Christmas vacation and spring term:

• Start looking into funding and scholarship opportunities. A few chambers support pupils through the BVC year, as do the Inns of Court. Fees alone can add up to more than £12,000. The Bar Council estimates that, taking living expenses intoaccount, the BVC can cost a student as much as £30,000.
• Apply for mini-pupillages and other relevant work experience. You can even apply for a vacation placement at a law firm (as long as it does not clash with your mini-pupillage), so that you can compare the two professions.
• If relevant, apply for the Graduate Diploma in Law.
• Explore the possibility of securing a scholarship to fund the conversion course.

In the summer:

• Complete your mini-pupillage. Doing more than one looks better on your CV, as it shows that you have tested the market to see which type of set would suit you best.

University: final year law students/conversion year students

• Join one of the Inns of Court. This is a prerequisite for getting onto the BVC.
• Research those postgraduate law schools offering the BVC.
• Apply for scholarships for the BVC. Otherwise, make sure you have funding in place to pay for the course yourself
• Make pupillage applications. Apply to non-Olpas (online pupillage application system) sets individually.
• Attend pupillage interviews.

BVC year

• Complete compulsory courses, including advocacy, negotiation and civil procedure.
• The BVC can now also be completed on a part-time basis over two years.
• Attend the ‘12 dinners’ qualifying sessions.
• Get called to the bar.

Pupillage

• Undertake your first six (that is, the first six months of your pupillage). During this six you will primarily be working on your pupil master’s cases.
• Undertake your second six. During these six months you can start earning in your own right and so appear in court.
• Apply for tenancy, or alternatively undertake a third six. The latter option is slightly more unusual.