Pupillage Portal has just opened and hundreds of aspirant barristers will be applying for pupillage all across the country. Many will be disappointed and will receive correspondence containing the (in)famous line “the standard was exceptionally high”. The standard has been “exceptionally high” for many years now though, which makes you wonder when it’s going to stop being the exception.
I was lucky enough to get pupillage last year so have fortunately been saved from going through the whole system again. It still leaves you with paranoia, but of a different kind: “will I get pupillage?” becomes “will I get tenancy?”, and you start worrying that you will turn up on the day specified to discover that they in fact sent the offer pack to you by mistake, or never received your signed contract.
