The first thing to say is: well done on getting through the paper applications! The pupillage process can be a gruelling one and requires a significant amount of stamina. So, if you are reading this having just submitted your applications, then make sure that you give yourself a break between the application deadline and starting on your interview preparation. The interviews themselves can span a couple of months, so make sure that you are able to make it through the next stage whilst maintaining your wellbeing and preventing burnout.
Having said that, do be aware that interviews can be offered with only a couple of days’ notice, so I would not recommend waiting to start your preparation until you have received your first interview invite. Before moving to the substantive tips, I want to emphasise that most of this advice draws upon my own personal experience and that everyone has their own ways of working. Ultimately, the most important thing is making sure that you are in the right frame of mind for the interviews and everyone will have their own ways of getting to that point.
Top Tips for Preparation
- Get to grips with your key experiences.
This will involve a process of going through the deck of cards which represent all of your experiences that you have gathered over the past few years, legal and non-legal, and selecting your best hand of examples. You can then have these cards in your mind during the interview and, ideally, you will be able to pick one to play for each competency-based question.
You will need to have a few key examples of work and extra-curricular endeavours that demonstrate a range of competencies and that you can talk about comfortably. I would suggest trying to work out an engaging narrative for each example so that you have details included within your answer. For instance, if you co-founded an initiative, how many people did you do this with and what was your specific contribution? Or if you organised an event, how many attendees were there and who were the speakers? It is important to try not to have a scripted answer for each of these experiences, but you want to be sure on the details in case you are asked and you should be clear on the points and skills that you want to get across to the panel.
- Identify your “weak” points.
This is not about going through your application and putting yourself down or comparing yourself to others, but anticipating the points in your application that they might ask about or seek clarification on. For example, if you are applying for common law sets but your previous experience is largely in family law, they may well ask where your interest in criminal and civil practice stems from. Similarly, if you have not done much mooting, make sure you are prepared for questions about your advocacy skills and how you demonstrate these through other experiences. Remember that everyone’s application forms will look different and there are many ways to evidence that you fulfill each of the criteria, but you just need to be prepared for those trickier questions and be honest in your answers.
- Prepare for the obvious questions.
It is likely that at least a few of your interviews will involve questions about why you want to join the profession and why you would be well-suited to a career at the Bar, as well as why you want to be a pupil at that specific set. Therefore, these are questions that you should be prepared for with strong and succinct answers. Bear in mind that the panel will likely hear lots of similar answers to these questions, which is not a problem in itself and I do not think that they are expecting you to say anything revolutionary, but you should be able to respond confidently and coherently.
As above, try not to have completely scripted answers as this will come across to the panel. Although you should be prepared for these questions, try not to put too much focus on these as there are an infinite number of alternative questions that you could be asked and these questions might not come up at all during some interviews.
- Stay on top of current affairs.
Although you are likely engaged with current affairs already, make sure you start doing this in a more methodical way at least a couple of months before the interviews come around. Everyone will have their own way of doing this, but regularly reviewing legal news websites and listening to law-related podcasts is a good place to start. It may help to start compiling a list of key headlines and then familiarise yourself with the issues a few days before the interviews. It will be impossible to be au fait with every single news story that has a legal angle, but the major topics will start to emerge and you should read at least a couple of different articles on the big issues so that you are getting more of a rounded view.
- Prepare your case examples.
Similar to some application questions, interview panels might ask you to talk about a case you found interesting, one you think was wrongly decided, a judgment that you admire, etc. I would suggest having 4-5 cases that you are able to speak comfortably about. If the chambers has a particular focus on an area of law, then make sure some of your cases fall into that area. By having a few examples, you should be able to adapt to any variation of the case-based question. If you have time to read the judgment in full, then that is ideal, but otherwise make sure that you have read a few different articles on the case and have formed your own opinion. If there is a dissenting judgment, it is usually helpful to have a look at this too.
- Go back to basics.
Inevitably, you will not have time to studiously read back over all of your notes from the first year of your law degree (or the GDL). However, you should remind yourself of the fundamental principles of the foundational areas of law, including criminal law, contract law and tort. You can adapt your focus depending on the types of sets that you are applying to, but the panel might still throw a rogue question at you to see whether you can dig deep into your memory, or at least to see if you can formulate a coherent answer based on the basic principles. Again, it is impossible to prepare for every possible question that might be asked, but refreshing your understanding of the key areas of law should help to give you some grounding. Especially if, like me, there are a few years between your undergraduate degree and your pupillage applications.
- Get someone (or several people) to put you through a mock interview.
I know that these can feel incredibly painful. There is something very awkward about giving your answers when you know that it is not the real thing, but you have to get over that. Ideally, if you are able to have a mock interview with a barrister or current pupil, then this will be the closest you can get to the actual experience. Lots of people are much more willing to give up their time than you might expect, so there is no harm in asking anyone that you know to do this (or even reaching out to legal twitter). Most Inns and Bar Course providers also have mock interview schemes that applicants can sign up to, so make sure you look out for these.
Mock interviews are very important for a few reasons. First, they prepare you for the nerves that you might feel before you go into the real interview. Second, they build up your confidence in being able to answer tricky questions on the spot. Third, the feedback will likely be invaluable. You might receive feedback in relation to the content of your answers, the style in which you are answering them, or both. The mock interviewer will be able to pick up on small things that you may not notice when you are trying to assess yourself and this will give you the opportunity to correct certain phrases or habits before the real interviews.
Top Tips During the Interview
The focus of this article is on advice for interview preparation, rather than your performance in the interview itself. However, based on my experience of both rejections and success, here are a few pointers to think about when you are in front of the panel:
- Try to take a moment to consider and structure every response before answering. You do not have to answer straight away, and taking a second to breathe or sip your water can often bring slightly more clarity and calmness to your answer.
- Do not forget about non-verbal communication and body language. This is important in remote interviews as well as in-person ones. Although the panel should be focused on your answers, it is inevitable that some of their assessment of you will be based on how you present yourself as this is an important part of a career at the Bar. It sounds obvious, but the key things are eye contact, posture and trying not to fidget with anything.
- Similarly, you should be aware of your tone of voice and pace. Even if you feel completely unsure on the inside, you want your exterior to come across as confident and self-assured. Try to speak slowly and clearly, as you would for any piece of advocacy.
- A technique that helped me during interviews was trying to think of it as a conversation with colleagues rather than an interview. You still need to adhere to the formalities of an interview, of course, but I found that I performed better when I tried to relax into it and get more of a conversation going, especially during the debate-style questions.
- Having said all of the above, the age-old adage still stands: be yourself. It seems like a cliche, but there is no point in trying to be what you think the panel wants you to be. It is likely that you will not come across as genuine and you may well be doing yourself a disservice by preventing yourself from finding the set most well-suited to you. You are in the interview room (or Zoom call) for a reason, and all you can do is make sure you are prepared, put your best foot forward and let your unique qualities shine through!
Nancy Kelehar