Erin McEwan

Now I confess I’m not an expert on the Bar or what it takes to be a Barrister (although I’m learning)!

Thankfully, Erin McEwan joined our volunteer team at Inclusie. She’s a recent Graduate and has accepted an offer to study the BPC (Bar Practice Course) at the University of Law, having been awarded one of the university’s Advocacy Scholarships.

We’ve put together this piece about the Pupillage Gateway. I hope it’s helpful for those of you considering applying for the first time or in the future.

🎓 What actually is the Pupillage Gateway?

The Pupillage Gateway is the Bar Council's official online system for applying for pupillage. It's the single place where every pupillage vacancy has to be listed, which is designed to keep the process fair, transparent and open to everyone, rather than relying on personal connections or word of mouth.

Chambers and other approved training providers (technically called AETOs or “Authorised Education and Training Organisations") advertise their vacancies on the Gateway. Most of them also run their actual recruitment through it too, though a handful ask you to apply to them directly instead, so it's worth double-checking each individual advert for how to apply.

Once you've created an account, you can search vacancies by location, pupillage award, length, start date and practice area, and build up your academic and work experience history in advance, so it's ready to attach to every application the moment the window opens.

📅 Know the timetable

The Pupillage Gateway application window for the 2027 recruitment round opens in January and closes towards the end of January. But you can start preparing your account and uploading your academic and work experience from September 2026, and chambers’ vacancies will be available to browse from November 2026.

First things first, save these dates:

7 September 2026 – Applicant accounts open
23rd November 2026 12:01am – Pupillage advertisements become available
4 January 2027, 11am – Applications open
28 January 2027, 11:59pm – Applications close
7 May 2027, 9:30am – Initial offers are made

You can look at the Bar Council 'Pupillage Gateway' for more detail.

❓ Next steps

That means you have months to prepare - so what should you actually be doing? Here’s a few ideas of how you could organise your time to make sure not everything is left until the last minute…

September:
Set up your Gateway account and make sure your academic and work experience history is complete. Start making a list of chambers you are interested in.

Start building up your CV too. Of course securing legal work experience is great, but we know how challenging that is. Alternatives you could consider are volunteering for organisations like Transform Justice, listening to legal podcasts like Law Pod UK, joining relevant webinars or getting experience outside of the legal sector. Each of these could be adapted to build your applications. Make sure to keep a note of everything you do!

October:
Research your shortlisted chambers properly. Consider the chambers’ practice areas, the type of work they do, their recent cases, their culture, their values, their approach to pupillage and the type of clients they represent. Start identifying what genuinely attracts you to each set.

November:
Read the advertisements when they are published on 23rd November. Check eligibility, practice areas, awards, location and, importantly, the specific questions each chambers asks.

December:
Draft, redraft and get someone else to read your applications.

Remember to ask yourself - amongst so many applicants, what will make you memorable?

This should go beyond your academic achievements and legal work experience. For example, for Erin, competitive dance taught her discipline, resilience, performance skills and how to work under pressure. Performing in front of people also helped her become comfortable being watched and judged - something that is very relevant when you are standing up in court! Working with children has developed her patience, communication and ability to adapt how she communicates depending on who she is speaking to. Being a makeup artist has taught her how to build relationships with clients, manage expectations, work independently, communicate clearly and stay calm when things don't go exactly to plan.

Your part-time job, sport, volunteering, societies, caring responsibilities, hobbies or other commitments might seem completely unrelated to the Bar, but they could contain some of your strongest examples. Take time to work out what makes you stand out from the crowd.

January:
Submit early. Don't make 28th January your personal deadline. Give yourself time to check every answer, make sure you have actually answered the question and check that every application is tailored to that chambers.