I won’t get pupillage this year.
I am devastated and ashamed, but to be fair, I have grown a lot as a person and received endless support from the Bar community. For that I am grateful.
Best of luck to those still waiting 🤞
Legal Twitter, pls share! 🙇♀️
I'm a Bar graduate (well, in a week) and looking for a full time role to support myself as I seek pupillage.
Interest: human rights & civil liberties, public law
Exp: small charity; research, admin, IT, translation
I agree. It baffles me how Hong Kong systematically discriminate against Filipino & Indonesian domestic workers - when they’ve raised a whole generation of HKers & are caring for our old. New Hong Kong must be equal, free and inclusive!
Pupillage application is torture… How is it that my now 1.5 yrs of public law caseworker experience and another mini made me a worse candidate than last year … make it make sense 😭😭😭
Just a quick one to say I’ll be off Twitter / LinkedIn for the next week.
Best of luck to all still waiting to hear back about
#pupillage
- sadly not my year again, so I’m going to peace out to protect my mental health ✌️🧠
To whoever’s considering my pupillage application:
I am a stress baker.
In addition to bringing value to the set in my legal & advocacy skills, I will no doubt bring a lot of cakes, cookies, and pastries when I’m stressed.
Another batch is in the oven.
@CrimeGirI
Not to mention barristers have spent a lot of money and time studying and perfecting their craft!!
University: £9000 x 3 years
GDL: (optional) £12000
Bar Course: £16000
A career in crime rn is not sustainable for anyone.
(Currently doing litigation exams, I know! 🫠)
Dear Criminal Bar - thank you for fighting for a just legal system, and for so many aspiring barristers who dream of doing crime but cannot afford to. ✊
Important things I learned as a paralegal that would help me when I become a barrister (pending snappier title)
#1
DO NOT give out your personal WhatsApp to clients. 🙃
Barristers! 🆘
Are YOU a
#barrister
with an hour’s free time? Please can you come interview one of our disabled aspiring barristers?
We are particularly looking for Civil, Commercial and Human Rights practitioners.
Please share far & wide!
We are very thankful for the support we've already for our Mock Interview Scheme from members of the Bar!
However, due to the high number of interviewees, we need more volunteers. If you could offer one mock pupillage interview, please register here:
Pleased to say I’ve got a merit for my Bar course overall, with a 93% in the Judicial Review module!
No time to celebrate but this has proven to myself that I can in fact do this job. Imposter syndrome can shut up for the day!
I’m on holiday and reading (as you do) a romance. Which features an upper class fancy barrister who’s so rich he brings the main character to fine dining and insists to pay. Who, apparently, is a criminal defence barrister 😂
Can’t wait for the day when I can show a professional user’s ID and not get my period products pulled out and examined by curious court security staff 🙃
Naive on my part, but I realise the post-BVS pre-pupillage years are probably going to be the hardest. The first thing is the loss of identity - who am I when no longer a student but not where I want to be yet?
Standing w/ HK at this crucial time is not only Britain’s obligation - it’s also a great opportunity to show the world that the UK is STILL a country that cares about
#HumanRights
,
#Freedom
and
#Democracy
- a country that will not kowtow to authoritarian rule.
@Stand_with_HK
There is truly no other way to honour my ancestors by spending Lunar New Year drafting pupillage applications (working on becoming a barrister).
Well, they’d probably ask why I’m not a barrister yet, but at least I’m trying 😂🧨🧧🐰
@WigOnWheels
@OpenJusticeCoP
I think it SHOULD be a complaint! It’s 2024, there are plenty of wheelchair users in this country, WHY aren’t our courts accessible? 😡
Not gonna lie, I’ve been seriously contemplating whether I could afford to continue working in Legal Aid / pursuing pupillage in this area.
But today I got my first, PHYSICAL, thank you card from a client! And suddenly it’s all worth it! 😭😭
Made a carrot cake to celebrate my colleague passing the SQE 1 exams🎉 The legal profession is a tough one, especially if you’re working legal aid, so it’s important to celebrate everyone’s success✨
Spent an hour today explaining to my mum that even if I get a pupillage this year, which is statistically unlikely, it’s possible that I’ll take a pay cut in 2024 and yes I did know about this before choosing the Bar 🫠🥲
Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful I am even preparing for pupillage interviews, but at what point would my non-law friends just completely give up on inviting me to things?
Successfully prevented a client’s scheduled move to the
#BibbyStockholm
today! 💪
Still alarmed by the amount of notices HO seems to be handing out & impossible timeline ppl are put under to make representations. No one should be on the barge.
This week I was paid £77 on a legal aid case from 2017 - an important case for a survivor of child sexual abuse.
7 years delay in payment; thousands still outstanding; many hours wasted arguing with the LAA; & the sum is way below minimum wage for the work.
Legal aid is broken.
Those that took a bit longer (3 years +) getting pupillage, how did you cope with your contemporaries starting pupillage / tenancy? What kept you going? 🥲
I will have to take some time to rethink my career choices, and whether I can keep trying given the financial constraints. But I promise I will not give up on the next generation of the Bar and making the profession more diverse; it’s the least I could do to give back!
Thinking about making a website(?) for pupillage candidates to supply info about the release of rejections / interview invites. Info to be crowdsourced and voluntarily submitted each year, so one random person on student room can't rattle the rest of the pool.
This is only one of the problems we encountered during the ‘23 Gateway round. The chaos & the indifference shown to panicked applicants (who are giving their all!) gave a clear message - “we don’t care about you”.
What a great welcome to the Bar.
🖥️ | The Bar Council’s Pupillage Gateway platform suffered severe IT problems during the application process this year that led to
#pupillage
applicants’ personal details being revealed to chambers, The Lawyer has learned.
Gotta admit it’s been really rough balancing the pupillage process with a job I really love.
I can’t complain - I get to help the most vulnerable people every day - but I do wonder if I’m really doing my best for them when I’m always fretting / anxious about getting pupillage.
It’s rather predictable to gush about one’s Inn after Miscellany but I am so blessed to be welcomed into the Gray’s family as who I am.
As an immigrant & first gen uni-goer I came with zero connection to law, let alone the bar, I can proudly say I have many friends & mentors now
Hard lesson learned: when your body needs sleep listen to it. I slept for 24hrs after my last civil lit exam and voilà, my month long constant headache is gone🤦🏻♀️
Had my very last Bar course class today 😭😢 It's genuinely been the most fun (and intense) education I've ever experienced. I loved learning & getting better!
Pleased to say NO ONE on my case list is street homeless OR on the barge, following urgent IR and issuing 3 (!) times last week! What a way to end the year ✨
I’m sorry it’s all pupillage talk on here but it’s April and I’ve not heard from the last few sets I was waiting re: FRI. I think this may be the end for the 2023 recruitment round 🥲
@pjm1kbw
I would argue that state benefits should be seen as a safety net, and a safety net should not have a blanket policy penalising larger families. People fall into hard times often through no fault of their own, and the cap right now is hurting none other than the children
Explaining to a client that they must pay a contribution to their legal aid is probably the worst part of working in
#LegalAid
1) they’re usually not well off to start with so any contribution is rather substantial
(1/3)
Literally could not have afforded to the the bar course without my Inn’s support. I’m not a barrister yet, but having senior members of the inn decide to invest in ME was probably the biggest confidence boost!
Apply! You never know!
🚨 Apply now 🚨
Gray’s Inn Bar Course Scholarships are open for applications. Take advantage of the Inn’s generous scheme to receive a minimum award of £5,000 with further means-tested funding also available.
Apply today 🔗…
Today marks 1 year since the launch of Bringing [Dis]Ability to the Bar! A huge thank you from everyone at BDABar to all our candidates, contributors and supporters. This initiative wouldn't have been possible without you! 2023 here we come...
There is still time to get your applications in! The application window for our Mini-Pupillage Scheme closes tonight at 23:59. We are also proud to announce our newest partnership with
@2harecourt
. Link to apply here:
Thank you
@DoughtyStPublic
for the fantastic
#IWD2022
conference. So many inspiring speakers and feeling completely reinvigorated. There’s so much work to do!
Excited to represent
@BDABarOrg
at
#PupillageFair2023
by
@thebarcouncil
today.
Come speak with us about our mini-pupillage scheme, our vision, and how we are helping disabled aspiring barristers get into the profession!
Thank you
@HonSocGraysInn
for the Introductory Event this evening! Managed to meet some of my online arbitration coursemates for the very first time and made lots of new friends too. Can't wait to get involved with the wonderful community👩⚖️
@iainmarlow
For a city that's hypervigilent from the very beginning of this pandemic (bc of past exp with SARS), I was shocked by the vaccine hesitancy among the population. After 2019 - 2020 people hv little faith left with the gov.
Thank you all who spoke, presented and attended the
@BDABarOrg
launch! I am beyond proud of tmy colleagues and so excited to see the level of engagement from different levels of the Bar.
#IAmBDABar
I have an embarrassing confession. I’ve no idea who should be my academic reference on pupillage applications (round 2).
Do I just go back to my BVS tutor and say yes I’m still trying? 🫠😅
I’m beginning to think working in legal aid is saying “I’m off tomorrow but please don’t hesitate to contact me” and “please don’t worry about work during your leave” to each other again and again until you retire
Just found out I did (almost) double the amount of qualifying sessions as required for Call.
Flatmate: why would you do that I hated those
Me: they were fun! I liked the talks and panels and moots, I even had a whole arbitration course for free!
I’ve received final goodbyes from friends at home, who plan on going to the protest tomorrow. I’ve also been asked to keep their wills, scheduled to be sent to me, should they not return after an agreed time.
Please. Stand with
#HongKong
.
Those at home: rmb to be water.
Just finished my
@FreeRepUnit
training! So nervous (and excited) about the prospect of helping a real-life human being and not just some imaginary case scenario. I will do my best💪
Me: haha I can never do crime, it's fun but I'm 5'2, no ~rough and hardened~ client will listen to me
Also me, after 1 week of crime mini: all I want to do is give the clients a hug and tell them not to get in trouble again
Human rights advocacy group
@Amnesty
International will close its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong by the end of the year due to constraints on its operations from the National Security Law 🇨🇳
@iainmarlow
Most are skeptical about the vaccines; this was not helped by the gov's push for Sinovac (despite its lower efficacy). This, combined with the privacy concerns surrounding the tracking app, made Covid much more fatal than it should be.
Immensely proud of this team and
@KonsNouka
who's been working so hard behind the scenes. So humbled and excited by the support & advice given to us last night - the future of the Bar is bright and I can't wait to make it even better.
I can highly recommend being part of the
@AGIStudents
committee - I’ve made great friends and was really welcomed into the Gray’s family. It’s a great way to demonstrate your commitment to the Bar as well!
Applications are now open to stand for election to the
@AGIStudents
Committee for the 23/24 academic year. The Committee’s ultimate mission is to enhance our student Members’ experience, by advocating for student-positive policies.
Stand today 🎤
Had a lovely day mentoring young women at
@CityLawSchool
and teaching about mooting & judicial intervention. Thanks Twitter for all the tips - very appreciated!
They’ll have their first moot next week and I’m v excited!
@RachelChan42br
Perhaps - first to go to uni, first to migrate, really should be supporting my family now as a “lawyer”? Thank you for your kind words, means a lot!
Just had a cry because despite all the years of studying, when a client calls me on Sunday morning with an urgent issue, what I can do is so, so limited.
The asylum support system is broken.
Introducing our student guest speakers for tomorrow's event on Starting the Bar Course with a Disability: Tanya Beck,
@ZoeSTChan
and
@anaissosson
. There's still time to get tickets! Register here:
For those attending BDABar's Launch Event this Friday, please feel free to pose any questions to the committee, from more information regarding our goals and work, to opportunities for involvement, using the form below!
We are happy to announce that we have offered mock pupillage interviews to everyone who applied. The BDABar Committee sincerely thanks the 28 barristers, pupils and future pupils who signed up to interview our candidates.
#EDI
#mockinterviews
#disabledaspiringbarristers
#Bar
Tickets for Miscellany are on sale 🎟️
When villains from literature wreak havoc, Tinkerbell and Peter Pan turn to their oldest friend for help. Join us as Members of the Inn lead us through the looking glass.
📅 Wednesday 7 December, 7pm
Book now 🎭
I recently made some new friends and they were surprised to hear I identify as disabled, and am part of
@BDABarOrg
(NB you don't have to be disabled to join us you just have to care!).
3/🧵
Short thread about mental illness as a disability.
Friends on here are familiar w/ my long struggle with mental illnesses and my journey of accepting my disability that came with them. But because it is, quite literally, all in my head, I forget it's not obvious to all 1/🧵
🎉I AM RECRUITING!🎉
I am looking to employ an Executive Assistant to assist me during pupillage.
Salary: £42,120
Starting date: 31st May 2024
Application process: send a CV and two references to nouka.konstantina
@gmail
.com
Deadline to apply: 3 May 2024