Pupillage Interview Advice and Coaching

Competition is tougher than ever and getting pupillage is one the biggest challenges an aspiring barrister will face, with only a small percentage of applicants succeeding. Good applicants with a strong academic track record and other achievements consistently fail to secure interviews or translate those interviews into offers of pupillage.

More Than Pupillage Interview Questions

Anticipating the sort of pupillage interview questions you may be asked should only be one part of your pupillage interview preparation. How you answer is at least as important as what you answer. Do you understand the mindset of a barrister?

Do you know what messages your body language is sending out?Bearing in mind that body language accounts for at least 55% of your communication, awareness of your non verbal communication is critical.

Do you know what are the key factors that typically influence a committee to offer pupillage? Have you crafted the key messages you need to deliver at interview, irrespective of the questions you are asked?

Are you sure that nerves and anxiety won't negatively impact your performance in the way they do for most interviewees, despite the fact that they have enagaged in extensive preparation. With so much on the line, most interviewees consistently deliver poor performances at interview but do not know how to remedy this.

Your Performance on the Day is Critical

On the day that matters, when the pressure is on, you need to be in high performance mode. Firing on all cylinders, possessing and communicating confidence, maintaining focus and clarity, deploying congruent body language, whilst being engaging. This is something that most senior barristers and judges struggle with when applying for silk and judicial appointment and it is the biggest challenge for pupillage applicants who have strong applications but perform badly on the day.

Be Coached by Experienced Barristers

Our team have over 4 decades of practice and 2 decades of interviewing, advising and coaching pupillage applicants. The team has extensive experience sifting applications and sitting on chambers pupillage interview panels and have advised and coached thousands of pupillage applicants.

Comprehensive, Intensive and Challenging

You will receive the same intensive coaching provided to silk and judicial applicants. Our very challenging coaching and mock interview will help you

• Ensure your applications "stand out from the crowd" and position you in the best possible light.

•  Craft the key messages you need to deliver in interview, irrespective of the questions you are asked.

• Perform at your best, with maximum confidence and impact during your interview. This includes advice on body language and powerful mental techniques to help ensure you approach each interview with a confident, winning mindset. These techniques can be used not just for your interview, but for life and are the very same techniques used by world class athletes and special forces.

Our 2 hour intensive, video recorded, pupillage interview coaching session will prepare you for the toughest interviews and includes:

• Structured discussion about your past experience and forthcoming interviews.

• Advanced performance and communication techniques.

• Video recorded full mock interview and de-brief (this will last approximately two hours and you will receive a copy of your interview). This mock interview is extremely challenging and uses questions typically asked by chambers  during pupillage interviews.

• Feedback on both the content of your answers and your delivery, including body language and communication style.

Next Steps

For information about our fee structure click here.

Call 020 7549 3606 for a no commitment discussion with one of the team or email Jenny at coaching@jatc.co.uk

"My last two pupillage interviews have been fantastic, thanks to your advice. The feedback you gave me after the mock interview really opened my eyes to what I was doing wrong".

"2010 Pupillage Applicant"

It was recently brought to our attention that the blog 'Pupillage and How to Get it" ( an excellent resource for all pupillage applicants) has a post which reviews our service.