As I walked down Water Street to start my very first day of pupillage at Oriel Chambers, I was very nervous. What would happen during pupillage? Would I completely forget everything I knew about the law as soon as I walked through those doors?

Looking back on that day now, just over two months into my pupillage, I had no reason to be nervous. Everyone has been very friendly and welcoming, and people are always stopping to have a chat and see how I’m getting on.

I am very grateful to Oriel for the contact they had with me before my first day. I had been to a few lunches and even Chambers’ summer party. All this meant that, although I was nervous on my first day, I already knew some names in Chambers and was met by some familiar faces.

My pupillage is a common law pupillage, so I’m not restricted to a specific area of law throughout my pupillage, and I get to see a wide variety of areas. In my very first week I had two busy days in Liverpool Crown Court, I saw two commercial trials in Chester and Birkenhead, a PI case in Liverpool and a day long family hearing in Birkenhead.

Since then, I have continued to have very varied weeks. Although I’ve mainly been based in Liverpool, I have travelled to Chester, Birkenhead, Warrington and Preston. As for the cases that I’ve seen, I have attended both in-person and remote hearings, in everything from an application for an unless order to a four day criminal trial to a winding up petition. Once, I even saw a commercial trial where both parties were representing themselves!

There has been someone for me to shadow every day so far, and when I’m not in court my supervisor (Alex Williams) has been keeping me busy with paperwork: I’ve drafted a Particulars of Claim and two Defences. One especially interesting Defence was in response to a Particulars of Claim that had been drafted by a litigant in person.

The first two months of my common law pupillage has been so incredibly varied and interesting, and my third month is shaping up to be the same. So far, I am really enjoying it, and I am looking forward to seeing more in the next couple of months. No doubt, by the time second six rolls around, I will be ready to get on my feet!