Pupillage Gateway Applications: Written Forms, Chamber Research, and Interview Prep with Mary Collingridge
Mary Collingridge, a criminal pupil barrister at 9BR Chambers, shares her route from an LLB at Warwick and the Bar Practice Course with a pro bono LLM at the University of Law to industry roles in county court advocacy and probation sentence management, before starting an 18-month pupillage and preparing for tenancy. She explains how pupillage is structured across multiple supervisors, transitioning from shadowing in the Crown Court to being on her feet mainly in the Magistrates’ Court on youth and adult matters, with some Crown Court work. Mary advises aspiring barristers to start building relevant evidence at university through mooting, advocacy competitions, pro bono work and mini-pupillages, and to strengthen applications with wider work and industry experience, including roles that develop client-handling and court confidence. She emphasises tailoring applications by researching chambers beyond their websites, using opportunities like pupillage fairs and networking to understand a set’s work and culture. For interviews, she recommends structured preparation using common question themes, practising concise answers without sounding scripted, and being ready for advocacy-style exercises. Throughout, she highlights resilience for repeat applicants and stresses that the strongest applications consistently evidence skills and motivations rather than simply asserting them.
01:36 Mary’s Career Journey
03:10 Pupillage Structure
06:14 First Six Months
07:50 Getting On Your Feet
10:43 Application Foundations
14:55 Written Application Evidence
17:27 Chambers Specific Research
21:00 Time Planning Numbers
23:52 Interview Preparation
31:22 Repeat Applicants Resilience
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