A pupil master is an experienced barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

 who takes charge of the training of a newly called

Call to the bar

The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...

 barrister. Barristers are called to the Bar

Bar association

A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...

 at an early stage in their career, after completing the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) and undertaking a required number of "dinners" in their chosen Inn of Court. In most cases, the newly called barrister is then required to undertake training for a period of at least a year before the barrister can start their own private practice

Practice of law

In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professional services of a lawyer or attorney at law, barrister,...

. This training period is known as pupillage

Pupillage

A pupillage, in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, is the barrister's equivalent of the training contract that a solicitor undertakes...

, usually split into two periods of six months known as "sixes". The first "six" is a non-practising six, during which the pupil will shadow their pupil master; the second is usually a practising "six", when the pupil, with their pupil master's permission, can undertake the supply legal services and exercise rights of audience

Rights of audience

In common law, a right of audience is generally a right of a lawyer to appear and conduct proceedings in court on behalf of their client. In English law, there is a fundamental distinction between barristers, who have a right of audience, and solicitors, who traditionally do not ; there is no such...

 in court. Occasionally, a pupil barrister may undertake a third "six", extending the training period a further six months. At the end of pupillage, to continue practising the law, a barrister may attempt to become a tenant

Leasehold estate

A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....

 in a set of barristers' chambers, or find a position as an employed barrister. In recent years, attempts to modernise the Bar have led to some chambers referring to pupil masters as supervisors.

External links

• Pupillage from the Singapore Board of Legal Education