Callum Reid-Hutchings on Building a Career as a Barrister: Work Experience, Pupillage Applications, and Life at Gatehouse Chambers

About this episode

Callum Reid-Hutchings shares insights on building a career as a barrister, including work experience and application strategies.

Join us for this episode of Law Talks, with Callum Reid-Hutchings, who is a Barrister at Gatehouse Chambers, working in commercial litigation, insolvency and company law, construction disputes, employment law, and defamation matters. Callum describes a varied career path from early non-legal jobs to university, the bar course, commercial litigation paralegal work and a judicial assistant role, until ultimately securing pupillage and tenancy at Gatehouse Chambers.  He explains discovering the Bar later, preferring courtroom advocacy and self-employment over becoming a solicitor, and focusing on commercial work after exploring other practice areas. Callum outlines what he learned from his paralegal and judicial assistant roles about litigation realities and what persuades or annoys judges, and emphasises transferable skills from non-legal work and competitive sports. He shares advice on selecting chambers, interview preparation, and managing applications efficiently, and discusses building a practice through availability, strong solicitor relationships, and resilience. 00:00 Welcome and Introductions 00:08 Career Journey So Far 02:26 Choosing the Bar 04:19 Barrister vs…

People in this episode

Host: Ellie

Guest: Callum Reid-Hutchings

Topics covered

• career development
• law profession
• pupillage
• commercial litigation
• interview preparation
• transferable skills

Keywords

• barrister
• pupillage applications
• Gatehouse Chambers
• litigation
• career advice
• interview tips
• transferable skills
• commercial law

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Gatehouse Chambers, Bar, solicitor, commercial litigation, employment law, defamation, insolvency, company law, construction disputes

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