Avoid
“I enjoy advocacy and criminal law is interesting.”
Free preparation library
25 questions panels actually ask.
Practise realistic criminal pupillage interview questions and a structured method for motivation, legal, ethics and advocacy answers.
What the panel is testing
Not whether you can recite a textbook.
A criminal pupillage panel is testing whether you can identify the issue quickly, impose structure on incomplete facts, reason aloud, defend a conclusion and remain composed when challenged.
The practice set
Work them in this order.
Twenty-five questions, grouped as a panel would move: from you, to the brief, to the room.
01
The candidate
Motivation, judgment and whether you understand the work.
- 01
Why do you want to become a barrister?
- 02
Why criminal law?
- 03
Why have you applied to this chambers?
- 04
What makes you suitable for practice at the Criminal Bar?
- 05
Tell us about a significant failure and what you learned from it.
- 06
Describe a time you persuaded someone who initially disagreed with you.
- 07
What is the most important quality in a criminal barrister?
02
Ethics & instructions
Duties when the client, the court and the truth collide.
- 08
What would you do if your client privately admitted the offence but instructed you to run a positive case that another person committed it?
- 15
What is the advocate's duty when a client wants to mislead the court?
03
Law & procedure
Issue-spotting, accurate principle and applying it to incomplete facts.
- 09
When may hearsay evidence be admissible in criminal proceedings?
- 10
How would you approach an application for bail?
- 11
What factors would you identify when preparing mitigation?
- 12
What is the difference between credibility and reliability?
- 14
When can bad character evidence be admitted?
04
Current affairs
A reasoned view of the profession, not a recitation of headlines.
- 16
Should jury trial be restricted to address the Crown Court backlog?
- 17
What pressures currently face the Criminal Bar?
- 18
How might AI affect criminal advocacy?
- 19
What are the risks associated with digital evidence?
- 20
What recent criminal justice development interests you and why?
05
Advocacy under pressure
Timed oral work, interruption and arguing against yourself.
- 13
How would you deal with a judge repeatedly interrupting your submission?
- 21
Make a two-minute bail application on these facts.
- 22
Give a three-minute plea in mitigation.
- 23
What questions would you ask this prosecution witness in cross-examination?
- 24
What is the strongest argument against your own position?
06
The close
Why this chambers should choose you.
- 25
Why should we choose you rather than another strong candidate?
A six-stage method
For legal questions, impose structure first.
State the issue first. Give the governing principle accurately but economically. Apply it to the facts. Identify the best point against you. Reach a reasoned conclusion and explain what follows.
- 01Issue
- 02Rule
- 03Facts
- 04Counterargument
- 05Conclusion
- 06Consequence
Follow-ups
How panels make questions harder.
A strong panel often changes one fact, challenges your premise or asks you to argue the opposite conclusion. Treat that as an invitation to demonstrate intellectual flexibility rather than as a signal that your first answer was wrong.
Example: “Why criminal law?”
Build instead
Evidence from your experience → what that taught you about criminal practice → why the work suits your abilities → why you understand the realities of the profession.
Oral drill
Practise aloud, not silently.
Interview performance is an oral skill. Record yourself. Listen for excessive qualification, long introductions, unsupported assertions and conclusions that arrive too late.
60–90s
Motivation questions
Why the Bar, why crime, why this chambers.
2–4 min
Analytical questions
Law, ethics, policy and advocacy problems.
Digital Learning Edition
The other 75 questions are in the manual.
The full Digital Learning Edition contains 12 chapters, advocacy worksheets, ethics scenarios, sentencing and appeal exercises, 100 rapid-fire questions, mock panels and a 7-day revision plan. One-off payment — £49.
One-off payment£49
Digital Learning Edition
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Companion guides.
Free guide
Pupillage Advocacy Exercises: Bail, Mitigation & Cross-Examination
Free criminal pupillage advocacy exercises covering bail applications, mitigation, cross-examination and handling judicial intervention.
Free guidePupillage Ethics Questions: Criminal Bar Interview Scenarios
Prepare for pupillage ethics questions with realistic criminal Bar scenarios and a structured framework for professional conduct problems.
Free guideCriminal Law Questions for Pupillage Interviews
A focused criminal law revision guide for pupillage interviews, with issue-spotting exercises in robbery, self-defence, hearsay and evidence.
Free guideCriminal Bar Current Affairs for Pupillage Interviews
A framework for preparing criminal justice current-affairs questions, including backlog, jury trial, legal aid, sentencing, digital evidence and AI.
Educational use: This resource is for pupillage interview preparation, not legal advice. Candidates should verify current law, procedure, Sentencing Council guidance and BSB requirements from primary and official sources before interview.