I am interested in applying to the bar myself, but not straight away. The plan is to train as a solicitor and work in disputes, perhaps gaining higher rights if the option is open to me and staying in that for a few years. I then plan on doing an LLM to refresh my academic understanding of the area of practice I want to go into, sit the bar transfer test, and then go.
The reason I plan on doing it this way is because of how difficult it is to get a pupillage in anything these days. I have done mooting and some solid extra-curricular stuff, but I do not have numerous scholarships and prizes to my name or an Oxford first, which seems to be the norm for so so many chambers. I am trying to find other ways to stand out, and I think getting some work experience from the solicitor's perspective will be useful.
In the meantime, I am doing a few mini-pupillages now so I can have a feel for what they are like, and what kind of practice I would like to pursue.
