But if you can handle the inevitable knock backs, you've got a chance, says Field Court Chambers barrister Ayeesha Bhutta.

During the heady months of early summer, when the majority of the population are planning holidays, bemoaning the heat and getting worked up about tennis, wannabe barristers are in search of something that can seem even more elusive than a British Wimbledon champion – a pupillage.

My pupillage hunt lasted only one summer. Many people's last longer, forcing them to spend time in a seemingly never ending round of CVs and first and second round interviews.

The purpose of a CV / application is to get you an interview. Many chambers use the online, centralised www.pupillage.com system, others use their own forms, others prefer old fashioned CVs and covering letters.

Which ever system is used, the number of applications will far exceed the number of pupillages on offer. Of the applications received, a few will be the top percent of their year and clearly deserve an interview. Similarly, there will be a bottom few who are misguided in their choice of a career at the Bar and can be dumped without a qualm.

The rest of us fall somewhere in the middle. The trick – I discovered after the event – is not to give your target chambers any reason to reject you. So no typos. No unexplained gaps. No obvious mismatch with the set's predominant area of practice. No glaring misconceptions as to what barristers do.

I must admit that I often fell at this first hurdle. My numerous applications yielded only a handful of interviews.

Most sets conduct at least two rounds of interviews. My first round interviews were often short (10-15 minutes) and based on generic questions clearly asked to all candidates ('Why do you want to be a barrister?', 'Why this set?', 'Why should we take you?'). Some become veterans of this process. I met in the waiting area for my first interview a chap who was on his 15th. He regarded my state of interview virginity with some incredulity.

First round interviews contain elephant traps for the unwary and inexperienced. I was asked what the five essential qualities of a barrister were and could only think of four on the spot (afterwards it was pointed out that I should have said 'brevity' as my fifth requirement). I got lost in the Temple on the hottest day of the year, wearing a heavy suit, and arrived with minutes to spare, flustered and overheated (the interview itself went downhill from there). These stories are minor compared with my peers' tales of being asked which animal/fictional character/object they would be, or for views on obscure and esoteric areas of the law.

Second round interviews are more formal – and involve written exercises, advocacy tests and research. They are intimidating affairs.

My second round interview at the chambers I eventually did pupillage at was before a panel of about eight barristers and the senior clerk. They sat on one side on an enormous boardroom table. I was on the other. A friend of mine had an interview at a local hotel. Would be pupils were called in before a small panel to do an advocacy exercise before learning if they were through to the next round. In her description the whole experience bore a strong resemblance to the early rounds of the X-factor.

As will probably be obvious, unless you are the legal genius of 2009, getting a pupillage involves a frustrating amount of luck at all stages. Obviously there are things you can do to increase your chances (prepare, get a good CV together, research your chosen chambers), but with so many, often very good, candidates competing against you, failures are inevitable. It seems traditional in articles like this to try and put people off applying for pupillage, but the fact is there are pupillages out there and it is possible to get one.

Ayeesha Bhutta is a barrister at Field Court Chambers.