How to Apply

Applications for Pupillage have now been closed.

We will let you know by email if you have been shortlisted for interview by Friday 6 March 2026. First round interviews will be held on Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 March 2026. Second round interviews will be held on Thursday 2 April 2026.

Recruitment process

We are looking for bright, independent-minded individuals who thrive on hard work, are self-starters, eager to learn, and have something to contribute to our Chambers.

We apply the same criteria to our applicants for pupillage as we apply in our selection of potential tenants. They are:

• Academic achievement and intellectual ability;
• Analytical skills – including the ability to absorb complex information rapidly and identify essentials;
• Common sense and sound judgment – including the ability to remain pragmatic and practical;
• Written skills – ability to prepare clear, precise and accurate written work; ability to present arguments persuasively in writing;
• Advocacy / public speaking / oral presentation skills – ability to present an oral argument clearly, persuasively, appropriately and with confidence and impact;
• Resilience and independence – ability to work independently, seeking guidance where necessary; does not back away from tackling difficult or stressful situations; remains calm and in control under pressure;
• Motivation/Capacity for hard work – level of drive and determination; conscientiousness, commitment to a career at the Bar and understanding of what a career as a barrister in chambers entails;
• Impact and ability to deal with people – including articulacy; confidence; perceptiveness; and ability to build productive working relationships (whether with judges, lay clients, professional clients, other members of the Bar or clerks); and
• Integrity and high ethical and professional standards.

We want our applicants to perform at their best. We intend to find in them our future colleagues and stars of the Bar.

To help you best present your application, we describe our recruitment process below:

Application Form

We use our own Application Form because we want to maximise your opportunity to give us the information we need.

Please complete the Application Form carefully, taking account of what you know about 4 Pump Court, the work that you would be expected to do and the knowledge, skills and other abilities that we will be assessing.

Think about it like an advocacy exercise where you are the client. If you find self-promotion difficult, consider finding trusted friend(s) to read through to ensure you are doing yourself justice.

As a guide to the areas covered by the marking of our Application Form:

Area

• Your education (including prizes and scholarships):
  • Applicants can achieve full marks based on their undergraduate degrees, so there is no need for postgraduate qualifications like LLMs or PhDs.
  • Postgraduate degrees may help if an applicant received a better result than their undergraduate degree, e.g. if an applicant got 2:1 in the undergraduate degree, but a first or distinction in a relevant law-based higher degree (including the GDL).
  • There are no marks applied for the Bar Training Course or Bar Professional Course (‘BPC’) because we appreciate applicants will be at different stages and may not have started the BPC, though prizes and scholarships won during the BPC will be considered. Pupils do need to have completed and passed the BPC before starting pupillage.
• Your employment history and work experience, weighted in favour of legal experience including mini-pupillages, although wider   work experience is important.
• Your mooting, debating & public speaking experience and your level of success.
• Your motivation and capacity for hard work, including your motivation to practice in Chambers.
• Your candidacy generally, including the recruitment criteria not otherwise assessed on the form.
• The presentation and persuasiveness of your form.

A sample copy of the form is available here, so you can see all the fields before populating it as an online form.

All the above are considered by reference to relevant suitability criteria, so please have them in mind.

We are aware that candidates come from varied backgrounds and our form is designed to ensure that all relevant information can be included; there may, therefore, be sections of the form which are not relevant to you. Please do not feel compelled to fill every corner of every space; only include information which you think we will find important and relevant.

Extenuating circumstances matter to us (for example, relating to marks received in exams and impact on getting into your first choice of university). If they are communicated in the Application Form, marks can be adjusted to take them into account.

Repeat applications

We believe in personal development and are open to repeat applications for pupillage. However, we are also conscious that interview slots are very limited and so wish to weigh further chances against other applicants’ opportunity to be interviewed at all.

In the Application Form, we therefore ask applicants to identify whether they have been interviewed by us for pupillage before and, if so:

(i) to state when; and

(ii) to identify any developments since then indicating that they will perform better at interview. (This information is not used in the review of the paper applications, but will be considered for final shortlisting of candidates for interview.)

Please note this does not apply to previous applicants who were not interviewed.

Experienced applicants who are eligible for pupillage waivers or exemptions

Typically, if applicants have been legally qualified for over 5 years and have received or are eligible for pupillage waivers or exemptions from the Bar Standards Board, then they are invited to apply via our lateral hire process, rather than for twelve-month funded pupillages. This helps us to preserve those few pupillages for people who need them to enter the profession. If there are exceptional circumstances for us to consider, please include them in the Application Form.

Please see further at:

https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/training-qualification/barrister-training-waivers-and-exemptions.html

https://www.4pumpcourt.com/pupillage/lateral-hire/

References

We will only require you to provide references if you are shortlisted for a first round interview. Please think about who can write a supportive reference with authority.

You will receive a link to download the reference form in the acknowledgment email. If you are shortlisted, please download the form, enter your name in the designated section, and send it to your referee. Please ask your referees to return their reference to us as soon as possible, and in any event by the date in the reference form. You may wish to give your referees advance notice that a reference may be required by this date. Completed references may be submitted by email to [email protected] or in hard copy marked for the attention of Ms Christina Ferreira.

First Interview

We invite about 16 candidates for interview (<10% of applicants).

The first interview lasts around 30 minutes and takes place in person at Chambers (a video interview can be arranged if needed). It includes three parts:

• A discussion of a problem question, which candidates receive 30 minutes before interview. We take turns to draft these ourselves – the aim is to produce a question that candidates with different levels of legal knowledge can answer. No legal research is required or permitted. There should be enough in the exercise itself. An example problem question is available here.
• A discussion on a topic of debate, with the candidate arguing for and against. We try to make this accessible and topical. Past examples include:
  • ‘Should the state have the right to monitor all of your online activity?’ or
  • ‘Should students sit their law exams with the assistance of ChatGPT’
• Application and competency-based questions, linked back to our recruitment criteria.

The panel will be comprised of four barristers and one of our practice managers. Please try to remember we’re willing you to succeed and the questions we ask are aimed at giving you the opportunity to do so.

Second Interview

About half of the candidates are invited to our second-round interview. This lasts about 40 minutes and the panel is six barristers (the original four and two additions).

The first part of the interview is an advocacy exercise. The instructions for this advocacy exercise will be provided via email on Tuesday evening ahead of the interview on the Friday. Again, no legal research outside the materials provided is required or permitted.

We ask candidates to prepare their oral submissions beforehand and, as a guide, they should take no more than 15 minutes.

After the advocacy exercise, the candidates will then be asked questions about how they prepared for the exercise; and which techniques they’ve found to be effective when persuading others.

Marking criteria for interview

The two-stage interview process will be assessed by considering your interview performance, your application form and how you approach the exercises, with reference to our suitability criteria.

Expenses

We want to ensure that everyone invited can attend interview and cover reasonable travel expenses within the UK.

Please contact us for details.

Commitment to equal opportunities & diversity

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and aim to select candidates for both pupillage and tenancy solely on merit irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, although in cases where two or more candidates are of equal merit preference will be given to those who are ‘Black’ as defined by the Black Talent Charter.

We will consider any reasonable adjustments needed to ensure that you can participate in our selection process fairly.

Note: to those whom we do not select

We regret that we are unable to enter into correspondence with unsuccessful candidates. We expect to receive over 150 applications, from which we will shortlist about 16 for interview. Applicants who are not shortlisted or are unsuccessful at interview sometimes write to us asking for feedback or asking particular questions relating to their specific applications. As a matter of courtesy, we would like to be able to answer each letter individually. As a matter of practicality, however, we do not have the time or resources to enter into individual correspondence with unsuccessful candidates. We therefore regretfully ask that you do not request feedback.

Further resources

If you’d like to learn more about applying for pupillage, please find the relevant resources below or please do not hesitate to contact us:

Our Podcast – Learn more about our Pupillage process at 4 Pump Court.

https://www.4pumpcourt.com/applying-for-pupillage-at-4-pump-court/

Bar Council Guidance – The Bar Council provides several helpful resources.

https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/prepping-your-pupillage-interview-six-top-tips.html

https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/pupillage-interviews-slow-down-listen-and-be-yourself.html

Combar – Commercial Bar Association recruitment video offers a clear and informative introduction to the Commercial Bar.

Careers at the Commercial Bar – Combar