We are pleased to announce that we will be considering pupillage applications for 2025.
I am, in a sense, wholly unqualified to give advice on this topic as I failed to secure a pupillage and had to rely on my experience to gain exemption from pupillage.
However, as a pupillage provider I can impart one simple piece of advice, namely read the pupillage advert carefully before applying.
Our advert from last year and this year, asked for application to be sent by post. A significant number of candidates last year ignored this and sent their applications by email. This shows a lack of attention to detail and it could be interpreted as disrespectful.
The reason we ask for applications to be sent by post is because of the large number of client emails we receive; postal applications are easier to manage and in addition we hope that the postal requirement will reduce the number of speculative applications.
On this same subject, our advert for last year and this year, asked for candidates to address a number of specific points in their application. A very large percentage failed to do this. The points we would like addressing may or may not be objectively important, but we as the pupillage provider have explicitly asked for candidates to address them. A failure to do shows a lack of attention to detail and could be interpreted as disrespectful.
Some candidates seem to adopt a machine gun approach to pupillage applications, showing no genuine interest or knowledge about the chambers or the specific pupillage being offered; for instance they will refer to the wrong area of law. These candidates would have been better off, making less applications but putting more thought into the ones that they do make, rather than wasting our time (we are a small chambers and I have to go through the applications on my own, as a busy practitioner) and their own.
Comments