I realise there may be reluctance among aspiring pupils and trainees to follow the advice of a veteran of 12 unsuccessful interviews. But having spent some time analysing my various failures, I’m pretty sure I’ve hit upon a formula for certain glory.

1. Enter the Blogosphere

Voyeuristically pouring over stories about judges embroiled in outrageous scandals and vacantly skimming the odd article on Clementi and Carter in any spare time left over doesn’t, I’ve discovered, correspond with most interview panels’ definition of keeping up with developments in the legal world.

Fortunately, I’ve stumbled upon several legal blogs that offer a sugar-coated way of swallowing the drier law-related news stories. Examples include the blog of Charon, QC, the motorcycle riding, Rioja drinking, self-appointed Silk, which covers most of the latest legal news, and Geeklawyer, an anonymous barrister’s punctuation-lite rant about law and politics. They can be accessed, along with lots of other legal blogs, through the brilliant - although less useful for interviews - BabyBarista.

2. Arm yourself to the teeth with law

Often in pupillage interviews candidates are expected to make a submission – normally a bail application or a plea in mitigation – with interviewers taking the role of a panel of judges. Being grilled by a pack of QCs about why an imaginary defendant should be allowed bail is bad enough when you know what you’re doing. When you can’t remember the procedure, it’s like going for a jog in a field containing several angry bulls. Wearing a bright red catsuit. With a broken leg.

3. Do a Simon Ambrose

Reciting your boss’s entire life story in the manner of Simon Ambrose in the final of the The Apprentice recently may be taking it a bit far, it is a good idea to go beyond simply browsing potential employers’ websites, which are not always updated that frequently. I found this out during an interview at a common law chambers, having reeled off a lengthy spiel about my lifelong commitment to the criminal Bar. I was politely informed that the set’s struggling crime practice had been ditched over a year ago.

Independent legal guides like Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 (both available for free online), on the other hand, can generally be relied upon to be relatively current.

4. Use coat hangers, and where necessary, dry cleaners

Most students don’t tend to wear suits very often. With the exception of job interviews, my trusty Matalan number is usually only dragged out for big events such as weddings. Which explains why on the morning of an interview I’ve often found it abandoned at the bottom of my wardrobe, emitting strange smells and bearing difficult to explain marks.

5. Vet Facebook Photo

Rumour has it that increasingly yoof -savvy employers have started checking out candidates’ Facebook and MySpace pages. And there’s a particularly nasty urban myth doing the rounds about a guy who allegedly had a training contract at a big firm in the bag – until the interviewers saw the close up of his testicles he’d posted as his Facebook profile photo.

6. www.maps.google.com

Although members of the public can generally be relied upon to point you in the direction of the local branch of Sainsbury’s or Boots, experience has taught me that they rarely know where a specific law firm or barristers’ chambers is. Arriving 15 minutes late, soaked in sweat and wheezing for breath, is a difficult position to pull things back from.

7. Think of some decent questions

“So, have you got any questions for us?” Given that most candidates would gladly accept any offer of pupillage, even if the in-house advocacy training was conducted at 4am every Sunday in Inverness, this question seems a little pointless. But they always ask it. And it’s got to count in your favour not to come up with something that’s addressed in detail in the recruitment brochure.

Having thoroughly programmed myself with appropriate facts, removed those embarrassing Facebook photos tagged by so-called friends, and printed off a selection of high definition satellite maps, I’m off to collect my suit from Johnsons. Thirteenth time lucky perhaps?

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