Pupillage is the name for a period of work-based learning spent in an Authorised Education and Training Organisation (AETO): either barristers' chambers or another approved legal environment.
The below data relates to those that have started pupillage at any point across the relevant legal year (which generally runs from the start of October to the end of the following September). The majority of those that start the first stage of pupillage will also start the second stage of pupillage in the same legal year.
Caveats
* Please note that reporting mechanisms have changed over the past years. As a result of sourcing from various data streams and the implementation of more robust quality assurance structures some numbers may vary from previous publications.
** Please note that 30 September 2019 was a Monday, and more pupils started on this date than is usually the case. These pupils are recorded as having commenced pupillage in the 2018/19 legal year, even if the majority of their first six stage of pupillage was undertaken during the 2019/20 legal year. This has boosted the number of first six pupils for 2018/19 in comparison to previous legal years.
*** The figures for 2017/18 were corrected in 2020, and figures for 2020/21 were corrected in February 2023.
Date of next update
April 2025
Source of data
This data is sourced from the Bar Standards Board Database.
