* Olpas is the Online Pupillage Application System — about 65 per cent of sets are members.

* All pupillages are advertised on www.pupillages.com and Olpas applications go through this website. Details of non-Olpas sets are also on the site. They have their own application methods and deadlines.

* You can apply to as many nonOlpas sets as you want, but you’ll be limited by the number of sets offering your desired area of law.

* The Olpas sets adhere to an application timetable and rules set down by the Bar Council specifying that offers cannot be made before a particular date and must be held open for a minimum period of time.

* It is the Bar Council’s aim that non-Olpas sets adopt most of the Olpas rules, to allow successful applicants of both systems to have all their offers in before deciding which one to accept.

* About 80 per cent of Olpas sets put their pupillages out to tender in the summer season (March/April) and the rest in the autumn season (August/September), both for pupillages starting in the autumn of the following year.

* The best time to apply is the summer and autumn seasons before starting your Bar Vocational Course. The next summer process starts at the Pupillage Fair at Lincoln’s Inn on March 4, 2006, when the Bar Council Handbook is released. Invitations to interview and rejections follow. Offers cannot be made until July.

* Some pupillages are available two years in advance.

* There is also scope for immediate pupillages found on the News Flash page on www.pupillages.com.

* The Olpas online form asks for personal and education details and references and there is space to write about your reasons for becoming a barrister. You also have the opportunity to highlight four chosen areas of law.

* The main form cannot be changed once you have submitted it. It goes to all the Olpas sets that you apply to in that season; you must fill out a completely new form for the next season.

* Check that a set has pupillages to offer, then research the set in legal directories and on the website. Click on that set on www.pupillages.com and follow the request to submit a paragraph of why you are choosing that group in particular.

* A word of warning though: you can’t tailor the main body of your application to a specific set. This may avoid writing the same thing on different forms but it also means that each set knows about your chosen areas of expertise — something to watch out for if you vary these from set to set.

* Sets do not see the others you choose; nor reasons for applying.

* If there is a response to an application, you receive a pre-recorded statement telling you to check your e-mails. The application page will show how your application progresses, from “acknowledged and received” through to “under consideration” or “application rejected”.

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