A website charging prospective barristers to apply for entry-level jobs has come to the attention of Legal Week.

The site, 3rdsix.co.uk, charges pupils in return for access to vacancies for so-called 'third six' pupillages, which are undertaken by candidates unable to find a tenancy after the compulsory 12-month pupillage.

The site, which claims to have 370 pupillage seekers and 35 barristers' chambers registered, charges pupils £14.99 per year in membership, while chambers pay £149.99 per posted vacancy.

While the sums charged are low, the position contrasts sharply with the situation for applications for the standard 12-month pupillage – sometimes split into two parts known as a 'first six' and 'second six' – which are closely monitored by the barristers' professional body, the Bar Council.

Third six pupillage applications are completely unregulated, with the Bar Council justifying this position on the grounds that by this point barristers are already qualified, even if they have not yet been able to find tenancy. The Bar Council also runs its own third six vacancy site – for which it charges no fee.

A Bar Council spokeswoman said: "Third six pupillages do not have to be registered at all because at that point barristers have completed one year of training and are fully qualified."

The 3rdsix site is registered to a J Hawkey, a non-trading individual without a listed business address.