Pupillage and Tenancy Explained: What Actually Happens in Your First Year in Chambers
Pupillage is where you learn how legal work actually feels, sounds and operates in practice.
If you are starting pupillage or tenancy in chambers this week, congratulations. You are beginning a demanding, important and often exciting stage of your career.
You may also be reading this because you are still trying to understand what pupillage is, what tenancy means, or how the route to becoming a barrister actually works.
Either way, the terminology can feel unnecessarily mysterious.
So, what actually happens during pupillage? What is the difference between first six and second six? How do you become a tenant? And what happens if you are not offered tenancy at the chambers where you completed your pupillage?
Here is our guide.
What is pupillage?
Pupillage is the final, work-based stage of Bar training before you become fully qualified and authorised to practise independently as a barrister.
It normally lasts 12 months full time, or the part-time equivalent, and is commonly completed in a set of barristers' chambers.
Pupillage can also be completed at the employed Bar, including within organisations such as the Crown Prosecution Service or Government Legal Department.
A standard 12-month pupillage is normally divided into two periods:
First six: the initial, normally non-practising period.
Second six: the normally practising period.
Many chambers divide pupillage further into individual "seats". A seat is a period spent working with a particular pupil supervisor, team or practice area. You might therefore have more than one pupil supervisor during the course of your pupillage.
Your pupil supervisor is responsible for supervising and supporting you as you develop the competencies required for practice.
At the self-employed Bar, a pupil supervisor can generally supervise up to two pupils at once: one practising pupil and one non-practising pupil. Different arrangements can apply at the employed Bar.
The first six: learning by watching, assisting and doing the groundwork
The first six is normally the non-practising period of pupillage.
At this stage, you will generally not accept instructions in your own name or exercise reserved legal activities independently. Instead, you are learning, observing and assisting while developing the skills required to practise.
Your day-to-day work might include:
shadowing your supervisor in court
attending conferences with clients and solicitors
observing negotiations and hearings
researching legal issues
drafting pleadings, advices and skeleton arguments
preparing case summaries and chronologies
reviewing papers and helping to prepare for hearings
discussing your supervisor's approach after court or conferences
completing advocacy exercises and receiving feedback.
The precise experience will depend heavily on your chambers, your supervisor and your practice area.
You will also start learning how chambers actually operates.
That includes understanding the role of clerks, who are responsible for areas such as managing barristers' diaries, allocating and developing work and maintaining relationships with professional clients.
The first six can feel strange.
You may have spent years studying legal principles, only to discover that real practice also involves finding the right document quickly, dealing with an unfamiliar bundle and working out what can realistically be completed before a hearing tomorrow morning.
That is all part of learning how to become a working barrister.
The second six: taking on your own work
The second six is normally the practising period.
Once you have satisfactorily completed the non-practising period and the relevant requirements have been met, the Bar Standards Board can issue you with a Provisional Practising Certificate.
You must also have been Called to the Bar before you can practise as a pupil barrister.
Once appropriately authorised, you can begin accepting your own instructions and exercising rights of audience.
Rights of audience are the rights to appear before a court or tribunal and address it on behalf of a client.
This is where the experience of pupillage can vary enormously depending on practice area.
In some criminal sets, practising pupils may spend a significant amount of time in court. In civil practice, court work may be combined with substantial drafting and advisory work. Some commercial and Chancery pupils may spend considerably more time working in chambers because of the nature and complexity of their cases.
Your work might include:
conducting hearings
making oral applications and submissions
accepting work allocated through your clerks
drafting pleadings, opinions and advices
attending conferences with clients and witnesses
managing deadlines and hearing papers
communicating with instructing solicitors
preparing cases for court
reflecting on your advocacy after hearings.
Your supervisor remains an important source of support, but increasingly, the work is yours.
You are expected to prepare properly, ask sensible questions and take responsibility for your work.
You will make mistakes. Everyone does.
The aim is not to become a flawless barrister overnight. It is to identify problems early, deal with them professionally, respond to feedback and improve.
How are pupils assessed?
Pupillage is not simply about completing 12 months.
Pupils are required to demonstrate the competencies contained within the Bar Standards Board's Professional Statement for Barristers.
These cover the knowledge, skills and attributes expected of barristers and include areas such as:
legal knowledge and analysis
advocacy
written work
communication
professional judgement
ethics
organisation
working effectively with clients and other professionals.
Exactly how your progress is assessed will depend partly on the structure adopted by your Authorised Education and Training Organisation, or AETO.
You should therefore understand from the beginning of pupillage how your progress will be monitored, what assessments you will complete and what evidence you are expected to provide.
What compulsory training do pupils complete?
There are also formal training and assessment requirements during pupillage.
Current requirements include the Pupils' Advocacy Course, which must be satisfactorily completed during the non-practising period, and the Bar Standards Board's Professional Ethics assessment.
The ethics assessment is a centralised, open-book assessment administered by the BSB.
Requirements can change, and exemptions can apply in particular circumstances, so pupils should always check the current BSB guidance and the requirements of their own AETO rather than relying solely on a general guide such as this one.
What does pupillage pay?
Pupillage must meet the minimum pupillage award set by the Bar Standards Board.
From 1 January 2026, the minimum award for a 12-month pupillage is:
£25,863 in London
£23,504 outside London
Those are minimum figures, not standard pupillage awards.
The amount offered varies considerably between chambers, organisations and areas of practice. Some pupillages offer awards substantially above the regulatory minimum.
If you are applying for pupillage, check the award stated in the individual vacancy rather than assuming that pupils across the Bar receive similar amounts.
Moreover, the pupillage award is generally the guaranteed minimum that a pupil will receive. This is because pupils will be paid for the work they complete in second six, which can exceed the pupillage award.
What is tenancy?
This is another piece of Bar terminology that can be confusing from the outside.
At the self-employed Bar, a tenant is a barrister who is a member of a set of chambers.
Chambers provides shared infrastructure and services, which can include clerks, administrative staff, premises, technology, marketing and other support.
The barristers themselves generally remain self-employed.
Being offered tenancy therefore means being invited to become a permanent member of that set of chambers.
Importantly, completing pupillage does not automatically guarantee that you will be offered tenancy by the chambers where you trained.
Each chambers has its own process and criteria.
How do chambers decide who gets tenancy?
There is no single tenancy process used across the Bar.
The timing, criteria and decision-making process vary considerably between chambers.
Depending on the set, the process might involve:
reports from pupil supervisors
advocacy assessments
assessment of written work
consideration of legal analysis and judgement
feedback gathered throughout pupillage
formal interviews or exercises
consideration by a pupillage or tenancy committee
a vote by members of chambers.
This is one reason it is worth researching a chambers' pupillage and tenancy arrangements before you apply.
Look at how pupillage is structured. Look at what pupils are assessed on. Look at what the chambers says about tenancy decisions. You can also look at how many pupils and new tenants the set has had in previous years.
Historical numbers cannot tell you what will happen in your year, but they can give you some useful context.
What is life like as a tenant?
Securing tenancy is not simply the end of pupillage. It is the beginning of building your own practice.
At the self-employed Bar, your income generally comes from the work you undertake rather than receiving a fixed salary from chambers.
You will normally pay chambers fees or contributions towards the shared costs and services provided by your set. The precise arrangements vary considerably between chambers. This is called rent.
As a junior tenant, you will also begin developing your own professional reputation and practice.
Clerks can play an important role in helping you develop that practice and build relationships with instructing solicitors and other professional clients.
This means legal ability matters enormously, but it is not the whole picture.
Being responsive, dependable, prepared and clear in your communications matters too.
Your professional development also continues after pupillage.
New practitioners must complete the BSB's New Practitioners Programme (NPP). This currently requires at least 45 hours of continuing professional development during the first three calendar years in which you hold a practising certificate after any pupillage year, including minimum requirements relating to advocacy and ethics.
Becoming a tenant certainly does not mean you have finished learning.
What happens if you are not offered tenancy?
Not being offered tenancy by your pupillage chambers can be incredibly disappointing.
It does not necessarily mean the end of your career at the Bar.
One option may be to apply for a probationary tenancy, also commonly referred to as a third six.
A third six is a fixed-term period of practice that can provide an opportunity to develop further experience and potentially apply for permanent tenancy. It may be undertaken at another set or, in some circumstances, the chambers where you completed pupillage.
Importantly, a third six does not form part of the regulated period of pupillage. You have already completed that stage of training.
You may also be able to apply directly for tenancy opportunities at other chambers or explore opportunities at the employed Bar.
The Bar Council publishes probationary tenancy vacancies, so this is one place to look for opportunities.
And remember that a tenancy decision is exactly that: one decision by one organisation at one point in your career.
Take feedback seriously and learn from it, but do not treat one decision as a verdict on your entire future at the Bar.
Hoping to secure pupillage? What should you focus on now?
If you are an aspiring barrister rather than someone beginning pupillage this October, all of this might still feel a long way away.
But there are things you can start developing now.
Practise advocacy regularly
Advocacy improves through practice.
Mooting and advocacy competitions can help you develop your ability to structure an argument, apply legal principles to facts, respond to questions and make clear oral submissions.
Focus on being understandable rather than trying to "sound like a barrister".
Good advocacy is about communication, not performance.
Understand the career you are applying for
A pupillage application is not simply another generic legal job application.
Research the work barristers actually do, the realities of self-employed practice, the practice areas you are interested in and the particular chambers to which you are applying.
Understanding the profession will help you give much stronger answers to questions about why you want to join it.
Develop clear written work
Practise explaining a legal issue in a way that actually helps someone make a decision.
Depth beats breadth.
A short, well-reasoned answer is usually more useful than pages of impressive-looking fog.
Build your commercial awareness
Commercial awareness is not simply memorising business headlines.
It is about understanding the context in which clients and organisations operate and recognising how legal, commercial, economic and practical considerations interact.
Manage your nerves through preparation
You do not need to eliminate nerves before you can become a good advocate.
Prepare your structure. Practise aloud. Slow down your first sentence. Give yourself permission to stop and think.
Confidence often follows preparation rather than appearing before it.
At the Legal Skills Academy, we give aspiring lawyers opportunities to practise skills including advocacy, public speaking and commercial awareness in a practical environment.
You can also develop your advocacy through Speed Mooting competitions, webinars and other practical training opportunities throughout the year.
Starting today
To everyone beginning pupillage or tenancy on 1 October 2026: take a moment to recognise what you have achieved.
The year ahead will be demanding. You will learn quickly, make mistakes, receive feedback and gradually become more capable than you feel at the beginning.
Ask questions. Keep your standards high. Look after your wellbeing. You do not need to know everything on day one.
Good luck for the year ahead.
