Six Tips to Get You Through Second-Sixth, by Catherine Lickley

Published on 23/10/2025

Second six is exciting but daunting at the same time. You’ve spent six months shadowing your supervisors, and then you are effectively left to your own devices. It’s an odd transition, but here are some tips that have helped me to make the transition as easy as possible.

1. Overprepare

You might look at your diary and see that you have a mention or a case management hearing. You might not think anything of this, you’ve probably seen many of these before. Whatever you do, don’t get complacent. Sit down when you have a moment and prepare it. Know the law that applies and surrounds the topic, even if it is not exactly relevant. Questions will come up that you won’t know the answer to. Being as prepared as possible will help you when questions are asked. You will still get questions that you did not prepare for, but if you overprepare, it will take you less time to find the answer. It might seem time-consuming and pointless at times, especially if the Judge doesn’t ask you any questions, but when they do, you will thank yourself for doing it.

Overpreparing has helped me to answer questions in relation to condemnation proceedings, costs in possession proceedings, applications to dismiss in the Crown Court and more. Having an answer to hand has been beneficial, and even when I didn’t know what the answer was, it helped me look in the right place for it.

Another reason to overprepare is that if you have prepared your cases in advance, when the clerks call you and ask you to pick up a case on the day, you won’t feel as stressed because you will have sorted all the other cases beforehand.

Even when you overprepare, you never know what might happen. I had a case where the Defendant was sentenced to custody, and he escaped the dock and the court. I did not prepare for that outcome, nor did I know what to do in the situation. There are some events you simply don’t think to prepare for, but the ones you do think of, prepare for them!

 

2. Prioritise

It’s still second six, so you will be getting asked to do things for other members of Chambers. It can be frustrating, especially when you have to draft your own paperwork in the timeframe.

Prioritise what you think is most important. In most cases this will be your own paid work first. Members of Chambers will be understanding (within reason) if you cannot do their paperwork in time, and you need an extension. Do not take advantage of this, and if you can get the work done in time, then do.

You want all of your work to be done to the best of your abilities. If you cannot get both bits of work done to a standard you are happy with without asking for an extension for pupillage paperwork, then ask. It’s much better to explain the situation rather than submit a rubbish piece of work. I know that they vote on you, but I am sure they will all be in agreement that the client is the priority.

All you have to do is explain the situation, work a bit later that week to get everything done and make sure the delay isn’t too long. These things happen; the sooner you explain it, the better the outcome.

 

3. Be early

This might sound silly, but there will be times where you think “Oh it’s only a 30 minute drive, I’ll only get there 30 minutes before”. Don’t do this. That will be the one day that there a delay. I was travelling to Willesden County Court, which takes about an hour and a half from where I live. I always give myself an hour at court before the hearing, just in case something goes wrong. I hopped on the train and after 30 minutes of travel it came to a stop due to cows on the railway. If I had not planned to be an hour early, I would have missed my court hearing. I made it to Willesden 1 minute before the hearing. It’s not ideal, but it will happen.

 

4. Take every mistake as a learning opportunity

The imposter syndrome is really difficult to cope with. There will be times where you think you have messed up (and you probably have). Do everything you can to fix it, and speak to your supervisor or other colleagues in your Chambers. They will talk you through whether you did the right thing or not, and if you did not do the right thing then they will help you to fix it. The Bar is a very supportive place. Don’t let it get you down. Learn from it.

We’re pupils, we’re finding our feet. People make mistakes. If you have overprepared like I suggested in point 1, these mistakes should be minimal. Even if they are minimal (like having blue tramlines instead of black in a legal document), learn from it. Don’t make it again.

Having a pupillage learning log might help in this situation. I have a sticky note on my laptop which tells me what I’ve learnt and what I need to do better. One of them is simply “Pause when speaking in Crown Court”. These are things that people tell you before, but you never realise how it impacts you until you do it.

 

5. Take time out for yourself

You will spend the weekends preparing for next week’s work. It’s so important to take time out for yourself. Even if it is just an hour to go for a walk. If you don’t take breaks, your focus will diminish and you will not be as good as you want to be.

Dealing with clients can be stressful and emotional at times. Travelling also takes it out of you. You might have to wake up at 5.30am just to get to court on time. It can be exhausting, so if you take time out of your day for yourself, it will help you manage everything better.

 

6. Have fun!

You’ve trained for at least four years for this job. You should be able to enjoy every moment of it!