Pupillage
Temple Garden Chambers is committed to providing excellent
training for the barristers of the future. We recognise that the
continued success of the Bar and our Chambers depends upon the
people we recruit and how we prepare them for taking on their own
practice. It is with this in mind that we offer up to 3 fully
funded 12-month pupillages each year.
This page contains further information about pupillage at Temple
Garden Chambers. To navigate to a particular section, please use
the following links:
Why choose Temple Garden
Chambers
Temple Gardens Chamber is a leading civil law set with expertise
in a number of different fields, as reflected in our repeated
recognition in leading directories such as Chambers UK and the
Legal 500.
We recognise that in order to maintain our position at the
forefront of our practice areas, we need to invest in the
next generation of Temple Garden's barristers. With the majority of
our junior tenants being former pupils, our pupillage process is
central to Chambers' ethos. We are dedicated to providing high
quality training and support to our pupils and junior tenants.
We expect a lot from our pupils, who need to be quick to respond
to feedback, learn new skills and develop into competent
practitioners. In return we offer a structured pupillage year under
the guidance of senior Pupil Supervisors and can guarantee our
pupils exposure to a wide variety of work.
We also consider ourselves to be a friendly set, where pupils
are encouraged to take part in the wider life of Chambers and mix
with colleagues.
Our buildings have recently undergone a major programme of
refurbishment to enable our premises to reflect our recent growth
and success. Alongside well appointed reception and conference
facilities, Chambers benefits from excellent integrated IT and
telephone services. We have a first rate clerking team who will be
able to assist you to develop your practice through the early years
of tenancy and beyond.
The pupillage award
The total value of the pupillage award for each pupil is
£40,000, comprised of a £20,000 grant paid in equal instalments
over the first six months and guaranteed earnings of £20,000 in the
second six months. We also offer the opportunity for our pupils to
draw down up to £5,000 of the grant during their Bar Vocational
Course year if required.
Chambers also cover the cost of compulsory courses that you are
required by the Bar Council to complete during the pupillage year,
including the advocacy, Advice to Counsel and Forensic Accounting
courses.
The pupillage structure
We want to offer the opportunity to experience as broad a range
of Chambers' work as possibile during pupillage and so each pupil
usually has three Pupil Supervisors in the pupillage year.
Our planned arrangements are currently that, during the first
non-practicing six months, pupils will be placed with two separate
Pupil Supervisors for a period of three months before
changing. The remaining second six months is spent with a
further Pupil Supervisor. By structuring the pupillage year
in this way, all three Pupil Supervisors will have spent a similar
length of time with their pupil(s) before the tenancy decision is
taken in July. It also allows pupils to develop a good
relationship with their final Pupil Supervisor, even when they are
busy with their own workload. Our past pupils have valued
beginning their tenancies knowing that they have at least three
more senior practioners to turn to for guidance and assistance.
As well as undertaking work for your Pupil Supervisor, you are
on occasion likely to be asked by other members of Chambers to
complete some work. This is encouraged, and exposure to other
barristers' practices is good preparation for the early years of
tenancy.
What you will do
In the first six months of pupillage you will work alongside
your Pupil Supervisors, becoming involved in whatever work they are
doing. This does not mean that you will be providing administrative
support or doing the occasional bit of photocopying. You may well
be researching an important point of law, preparing a skeleton
argument or pleading, drafting an advice or attending court and
client conferences. Your Pupil Supervisor will make time to go
through your work with you and offer constructive written and
verbal feedback on how you can improve. Whilst you are not expected
to be perfect, you will be expected to learn quickly and take on
board the advice of your Pupil Supervisors. You will also be given
the opportunity to go to court with more junior barristers to gain
some relevant experience in preparation for taking on your own
cases in the second six months.
During the second six months you will be going it alone in the
courts and undertaking your own paperwork for the first time. We
encourage you to start developing your own court practice in
preparation for tenancy and consider it important for you to
develop your skills as an effective advocate. However, you will
still have a Pupil Supervisor to offer help and guidance, and we
will ensure that you have enough time to do work set by him or
her.
Pupils will also complete two formal written assessments during
the pupillage year (see below for more information).
Application
Chambers only accepts applications for 12-month pupillages
through the online Pupillage Portal (www.pupillages.com). Full
details of how to apply and the latest application deadlines can be
found on the website.
Due to the challenging nature of the work, applicants are
generally expected to have a 2.1 or better at degree level, which
need not be in law.
Once the application deadline has passed, we consider all
applications and shortlist candidates for first round interviews.
We generally invite somewhere in the region of 10% of applicants to
first interview. Following the first round interviews, we create a
further shortlist of candidates to return for a second round
interview. Both stages of interview are usually with a panel of 3-5
barristers. We do not require candidates to undertake a formal
assessment exercise.
Following completion of the interviews, we decide which
candidates meet our criteria for an offer of pupillage and then
rank them. The top two/three candidates will be offered
pupillage.
What we are looking for
We undertake a fair and balanced assessment of all prospective
pupils at each stage of the recruitment process. Members of
Chambers carefully assess pupillage application forms and
short-listing decisions are made according to the consensus of the
interview panel. Our aim is to recruit pupils who we hope will, by
June in the pupillage year, meet the standards that are applied in
the tenancy selection process (see below). It is therefore
helpful to demonstrate your abilities in these areas as far as
possible in your pupillage application.
The next step - selection for
tenancy
It is usual practice for us to recruit junior tenants from those
who have undertaken pupillage in Chambers and we have a very good
record of offering tenancies to our pupils. It is for this reason
that we only recruit pupils that we believe have the potential to
meet the selection criteria for tenancy and limit our pupillage
intake to two/three. When selecting tenants we look for evidence of
suitability in the following areas:
- Intellectual qualities
- Relationships
- Temperament
- Motivation
- Self-presentation
Regard will also be paid to Chambers' practice needs and
resources at the time of the decision.
During the pupillage year, pupils will complete two formal
written assessments. Each of a pupil's three Pupil Supervisors
presents a written report of the pupil's performance and, following
discussion with the pupil, submits representative samples of their
work. This evidence is considered by the Pupillage Committee, who
will make recommendations on the recruitment of tenants to the rest
of Chambers. The process is finalised with a vote by Members of
Chambers.
Early years of practice
We recognise that whilst securing tenancy is a great
achievement, it is just the first step of your career at the Bar.
We are therefore particularly keen to support you and your practice
in the first few years as a junior tenant. One of the key ways we
do this is by offering a very favourable rent structure for the
first years of practice. We also work to ensure that you are
receiving a fair allocation of Chambers' work and that you are
supported in the development of a practice focusing on your
preferred areas of work. New tenants are likely to be very well
paid from their first months of practice and will accumulate
experience of a broad range of common law work. Recent significant
cases in which new tenants have been involved include the Baha
Mousa Inquiry, the Guantanamo Bay Damages Claim and the Nimrod
Review.
Third six pupillage
It is not Chambers' usual practice to offer third six pupillages
to existing pupils or those looking to move from other sets. This
is reviewed on an annual basis and any third six vacancies that
arise will be advertised on the Bar Council's third six pupillage
vacancies page.
If you have to leave us at the end of pupillage, you will
normally be able to stay on after October and practice for a
reasonable period until you are able to find a position elsewhere
(called 'squatting').
Equality and diversity
Chambers takes its commitment to equality and diversity very
seriously and all recruitment decisions, including those regarding
pupillage and tenancy, are made in accordance with our Equality and
Diversity policy.