Dear Alex,
I can whole heartedly empathize with your article and experiences. I commend the enormous strength and resilence that you have shown in attempting to obtain a pupillage. However I would like to point out that doing the BVC affords one many opportunities in other careers and is looked upon favorably by prospective non-legal employers. Might I also suggest looking at other legal paths which would unburden the pain of pupillage applications and involuntarily paralegalling to 'fill the time'. Do note that there has been a steady influx of US practices in the UK and many UK-US firms where US lawyers are hired to work in the London offices. Equally, there exists no training contracts and pupillage qualification issues to battle with. Try looking into taking the New York Bar exam which will enable qualification as a US attorney. A dual qualified route would fit very well into the ever expanding global marketplace.

AJ, ., US

If you are serious about wanting to be a barrister I wouldn't 'compromise' and go for being a solicitor because it seems an easier route. I'm on training contract interview number 12 and application number 205. But more than that I think it will show that your heart isn't in it and this will count against you more than anything. A lot of my early interviews went south because I was applying to the wrong types of firms (I was desperate and assumed they would be too). Despite my best efforts it was clear that I didn't really want to be there and no firm wants someone hanging around their offices for two years with a long face, then running off at the first opportunity.

Ed, Surrey,

Dear Alex

I am just about to go back to Uni in Sept. to do my final year of my law degree. So unlike you I am unfamiliar as to the application process. However I often find myself wondering 'what is the point in doing a law degree?' Especially due to the pressure of finding a training contract afterwards. However, no words can express how much I admire your determination. So please do not give up, there is only one way this battle of yours can end, and that is with you getting a pupilage.

I wish you the very best of luck for the future!

Gemma, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

Alex, I am in the exact same boat as you and have actually topped the 120 application mark. The inherent problem I see is that Chambers' are very nebulous about what it is they are looking for - they have no set criteria, nor any guidelines which to follow, from which you can base your application/interview. I am also sick and tired of my interview feedback always focussing on "well the standard was very high" without actually pinpointing what it is that can make my application reach that level. Until the Bar Council tackle this ridiculous Pop Idol recruitment technique, there will be many talented individuals who will slip through the net. However I'm giving up, and to make my case I made 1 application for a Training Contract, and have an interview! 120 Pupillage applications netted me only a dozen interviews. Oh and to answer any critics, I too tried all the tricks, years of legal work experience, excellent grades, FRU, voluntary work - the lot. Oh well the Bar's loss - good luck!

Nav, London, UK

and to top it all, BVC students pay around £10,000 to suffer this pressure and rejection. What a warped world we live in. Oh yes i will be on the BVC soon, suppose that makes me warped too!

michael carroll, worksop, notts

Dear Alex, I realise I was a bit over-the-top with previous comments. This new article should be applauded because it points to a bigger question: do all aspiring barristers need to rethink their position?
I've returned from a recent mini-pupillage and the chambers was struggling to find court cases for me to watch because the amount of work is on the decline. The CPS and some law firms have already taken advocacy in-house. It has started.
This all started when the Higher Rights system changed. The blunt situation is that the government does not want independent barristers anymore. Their conduct makes this clear now. It will become like America where there are just lawyers, with a small percentage specialising in advocacy. The Carter reforms and the Legal Services Bill will make this trend unstoppable.
The question is, do you stick to your ground or accept the change and re-qualify as a solicitor?
(Your BVC would make you marketable as an advocacy specialist.) All the best.

David, Manchester,

I too recently got the news that I had failed to convince another panel that I was the candidate for them & along with that similarity I also know exactly how you are feeling. I too am sick of application forms & it is slowly creeping up that the majority of people I have kept in touch with from the BVC have secured themselves pupillages while I am left thinking. 'but my CV is pretty much similar or better than theirs' yet they get interview after interview & I just get a rejection letter & go back to my paralegal job. The more rejections I get the more I start to think, maybe I really am not good enough, not clever enough & I'll never make it but then I have the problem that there is simply nothing else I want to do. I too really dont want to be a solicitor. That is the reason, even with the heartache that this process is causing me, I cant give up because this is something that I want to do so much that it eclipses any other career I can think I may vaguely want to have a look at.

C.H.P, Nottingham, UK

You clealry have to do more to get ahead, Alex. As I approach, the BVC I am also worrying about the risks, but like you I really really want to be a barrister.

Make sure you take on board feedback from all interviews, ask a friend who has been successful so look at your application, get more mini pupillages and more importantly-advocacy experience through FRU, write articles on the law, and get winning some essay comps. In addition, if your degree classification is not too hot or not from a top 10 uni, consider doing a masters. Do legal work experience abroad. You are competing with the creme de la creme for these pupillages so do all you can.

I have to say that you will probably not get a training contract if your hearts not in it, but if you are wavering you may want to get some work experience with top firms just in case, and this will add to your CV anyway.

Good luck!

Heather , Derbyshire,

Well least you made it to interview, (that probably doesn’t make you feel any better) however how do you think getting a training contract is any easier? Whilst I know there are fewer pupillages available than training contracts the competition is just as fierce ration wise as more people are going for them, it’s almost insulting to hear you ASSUME that you can sail into a training contract. Of course I’m sure that’s not you meant to imply, I wish you all the best for the future!

laura , london,

Don't be so hard on yourself--you did have an interview, well 13 actually, so there must be something in your application that interests them. Also, given the timing of this article, your most recent interview must have been a second-round...you're getting so close! Hang in there!

Emilie, The Hague, The Netherlands

Good luck my friend good luck. People say that being a barrister is difficult, more like getting to be a barrister is difficult.

Manraj Singh Nagra, Taplow, United Kingdom

Ale, as Winston Churchill once said "never never never give up" one day it will happen. There are alot of us in the same boat: judged by an application form and not as a human being, there is no support from the bar council, but if you persevere you will succeed. Marching On Together

Thomas E Hurst, Ilkley, West Yorkshire

I too feel the strain of the legal recruitment process. I know I am special but too many graduate recruitment staff are blinded by their own vainglory that they can't see it!

Everyday I ask myself if I am wasting my time doing law and if I should not become a gigolo, albeit a well-qualified gigolo.

I have opted for the solicitors route contrary to the suggestions of my colleagues that I should be a barrister. Your tale puts me off completely. I read an article saying that 25% of solicitors want to change job....I am surprised 75% don't but in my opinion that does say something. Perhaps I have the 'right stuff' for being a corporate lawyer and the weight of the corporate world will not crush my spirit for years to come.

White Book Romancer, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England

Do you publish these articles under your real name? If so I'm assuming they'll be mentioned in your CV/Olpas applications.

While I'm envious of how fantastic the fact you write for the times must look on your CV do you think that the cynical pessimism that makes them so entertaining to read is the type of outlook chambers will look for in an aspiring pupil?

If you do decide to knock your barrister aspirations on the head you don't have to become a solicitor (Although after the GDL and BVC outlay I imagine it won't feel that way!) why not become a journalist full time?

Ross Fletcher's Biggest Fan, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne,

Alex,

What is the problem here? Anybody with enough determination can do anything they want. In the beginning I found your articles amusing and quite insightful, now I find them slightly depressing. You have harped on about not getting pupillage for so long that you have lost focus. Stop writing these articles, start doing more mass targeted applications, try FRU, or doing some voluntary work for a law centre. If you have spare time, apply to work in the US for Amicus or get involved with debating and other activities at your Inn. I hope you do get pupillage, I'd hate to be a souless wretch of a corporate lawyer too, but stop procratinating and make it happen.

Leonie, London, UK