What does a Barrister actually do?

The short version

Barristers are self-employed courtroom advocates — they argue cases, draft opinions and live off the briefs they win. It offers genuine autonomy and the highest intellectual ceiling in law, matched by the wildest income spread of any profession in the Atlas.

The pitch: real advocacy, real independence, and a top end that's spectacular. The catch: pupillage places are scarcer than Bar-course graduates, juniors at the criminal and family Bar earn modestly while paying their own chambers costs, and the mean income is pulled far above the median by a small minority.

Entry routes that actually work

• Degree + Bar course + pupillage — the only route; fund it with an Inn of Court scholarship if you can.
• Pupillage Gateway — one annual recruitment round; expect to apply more than once.
• Employed Bar (CPS, government, in-house) — a salary and stability instead of self-employment risk.