Pupillage Gateway date change proposed

The Bar Council has put forward a proposal to shift the Pupillage Gateway recruitment window to the January to April period, and has made a call for anyone with a vested interest in the topic to respond to the proposals.

The Gateway is the foremost method through which different chambers recruit new pupils and advertise vacancies. In its current standing, the opening runs from April to August, meaning that a final year undergraduate law student would apply in April of their third year for a pupillage which would begin in the Autumn of the following year.

The proposals have been suggested because the Bar Council feels there are significant benefits to be had in changing the timetable – namely that applicants would know the outcome of their applications before committing money to the training course for the Bar, and that there would be far fewer clashes between final academic exams and pupillage interviews.

These two issues have been highlighted because the Council feels that they are possibly discouraging pupils from applying in their final years, and instead pushing the whole process back a year.

Some pupillage providers have expressed concerns over the proposed change and the impact of any timetabling changes on their recruitment processes. It is for this reason that the Council wants to gain the views of those involved in the process, by taking part in a survey.

The feedback received will be used in making a final decision over whether these changes are implemented or not, and the survey can be located here. The deadline for responses is Friday 11 December.  

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