11KBW

The juniors at the set get in on the action too. One tells us: “On the public law side, I am frequently instructed as a junior on high-profile central government policy challenges, and I really enjoy the feeling that there is some wider significance to the work.” Considering work undertaken on their own, this junior adds: “Much of this is on a smaller scale (eg, acting for local authorities in disputes with parents about their kids’ education), but the legal issues are generally just as interesting/difficult and there is a strong public interest flavour to the work.” One baby junior tells us: “A typical day for a junior junior involves making oral submissions in an employment tribunal unfair dismissal preliminary hearing in the morning, drafting an application to the European Court of Human Rights in the afternoon, and then working on a skeleton argument for a JR against a central government department in the evening” – doesn’t sound so bad! 

The ever-growing data protection side of Chambers also ties into this public interest appeal — one junior tells us: “Something I really like about the data/info side of the Chambers’ practice is that the work centres around questions of the public interest (e.g., if you’re arguing about whether information should be disclosed under FOIA or whether data processing is necessary to protect a legitimate interest under GDPR), but it is in quite a different jurisdictional context from the JR work and is, frankly, often rather better paid.” It’s safe to say that there’s a good range on offer. 

Despite such big league work coming through its doors, the 69 members (including 21 silks) remain a down to earth bunch. We are told of “an amazingly supportive atmosphere” at 11KBW. One junior confides: “on the odd occasion when I have felt snowed under, clerks and other barristers have stepped in to help out”.  We’re told that 11KBW is a set where “doors [are] always open and people at every level are happy to chat about work issues and just about anything else”. Rest assured that “no question is too stupid not to receive a helpful answer” with a “really non-competitive atmosphere between barristers with no rancour between courtroom opponents”. One member tells us: “People regularly send ‘hive mind’ emails within chambers, asking whether anyone has come across a particularly tricky issue, or has experience of a particular jurisdiction or (more esoteric) type of hearing.” One tenant jokes, “I sometimes feel like my roommates should get all my brief fees, since my clients probably benefit from their judgement more than mine”. 

What about the work-life balance of 11KBW barristers? It seems it depends on the individual. One member tells us: “I mostly work 9-5.30 four days a week. Sometimes that goes wrong, but it’s a good baseline.” Others, however, have a different experience. “I tend to do at least some work every weekend,” one junior tells us. Members comment on the expected pinch points that go with the territory of life at the Bar: the increasingly tight deadlines and solicitors bypassing clerks, means it is “impossible to control the balance satisfactorily”. We are told, however, that members support each individual’s choices, whatever they are, with the clerks being especially praised for their support of barristers. One insider reveals: “Our clerking culture is amazing. I have never — literally, never — felt under pressure from the clerks to say yes to an instruction if I thought I was too busy.” Indeed, we are told that new tenants are encouraged to take at least a month off after the tenancy decision. Meanwhile, one of the baby juniors took three months out to go skiing recently! 

11KBW also has a “happy” social side. There is “usually a group going to lunch in Hall each day, weekly chambers tea is often well-attended, there’s a drinks party once or twice a term, a very well-attended Chambers dinner annually and occasional quizzes”. We hear that Chambers’ tea also now features pizza on a fortnightly basis, while the Socials Committee organises events every two months. “The last twelve months have seen white-water rafting, bowling, a T20 cricket match, ice skating, a family-friendly picnic and a cooking class”, one junior tells us. It all sounds great fun! One member shares that several of their colleagues are among their very closest friends. It should also be noted, however, that “there isn’t a lot of pressure to do loads of work socialising if you don’t want to spend your whole life with your colleagues”. 

In terms of the building, 11KBW is a “beautiful” grade II listed Georgian terrace with views over Temple gardens. One junior comments: “It’s hard to complain about working every day in a beautiful 1678 Restoration townhouse. The experience is so much more pleasant than working in a 21st century impersonal glass-and-concrete leviathan”. Apparently, due to space constraints, “the rooms are not the largest at the Bar” and, while “charming”, there are some outdated features. One tenant tells us: “There is a fireplace in my room that still requires sweeping, and somehow still produces coal dust. I don’t think a fire has been lit in it for over a hundred years…” There are, however, some more up-to-date features too. Two modern showers have recently been installed, which are a “massive improvement”, and there is a “brilliant support team who always have their eyes on the newest innovations to make sure our working is both secure and efficient”. IT support is said to be “good and responsive”, with working from home now “seamless”. 

Those interested in undertaking pupillage at 11KBW should apply through the Pupillage Gateway. Applications will be marked, with those scoring highest being invited to an assessed mini-pupillage. Candidates scoring highest on the mini will be invited to a final round interview. 11KBW typically offers up to four pupillages per year, with a recently-upped award of £75,000. 

Successful pupils will rotate between two three-month seats and one six-month seat, with three formal assessments to keep them on their toes. On the training, one recent pupil explains: “The training is rigorous with a real emphasis on learning through feedback sessions. These happen from the start of pupillage with your assigned supervisor. Subsequently, in the second and third three-month blocks, most feedback sessions are with the person setting the task and a second marker. Markers tend to be senior juniors and silks, so the input is very helpful. The only downside of this approach is it can be hard to cope with the volume of feedback (including differences of style and judgement) and the time lag between work completion and these sessions.” It certainly seems that there is a lot of feedback: “Every piece of written work I completed for anybody else in chambers was double-marked by two separate barristers. I then received comments and suggestions from both markers during a dedicated feedback session, which often went on for a full hour”. Training continues beyond pupillage, especially in emerging areas of law such as data breach group claims. There is also helpful training on soft skills such as working the room, using social media, and wellbeing at the Bar. 

11KBW strongly encourages applications from members of groups that are under-represented at the Bar. As well as participating in the Bridging the Bar and the Bar Council’s Bar Placement Scheme, it has also launched its own £30,000 scholarship specifically for black students on the Bar course. Also included in this scholarship is mentoring during the bar course and pupillage application period, as well as a guaranteed assessed mini-pupillage at 11KBW. Find out more here. 

I did some mooting at Gray’s Inn and with my Bar course provider, although I don’t think I won any prizes or anything. I also took on a social security case with FRU and did a bit of volunteering at a law centre. There is no prescribed set of things that you need to do in terms of mini-pupillages and pro bono work – the aim is just to gain a bit of experience and show interest.

It took me two rounds of applications to get pupillage, out of which I got one offer. I found the 11KBW application process to be refreshingly straight-up. There was no “tell me about a time when …”. Instead, there was an initial interview involving a short debate around a topical issue; then a mini-pupillage involving assessed written work and a discussion around that; then a final interview centred around a case I’d been sent a few days beforehand. (No specific prior legal knowledge was expected for any of this.)

The pupillage experience

Pupillage is structured into two three-month seats and one six-month one. The tenancy decision is normally taken nine months in. Pupillage is non-practising, save that you have the option of starting to practise post-decision. Pupils are not in competition with each other – in any given round, Chambers has capacity to take on all pupils as tenants.

Pupillage involves an ongoing assessment process. The bulk of time is spent doing written work for members of Chambers, whether on a live case or one that they have worked on recently. This is intended to test and develop pupils’ legal analysis and written advocacy skills.

In my first seat, almost all of my work was set by my pupil supervisor, and they marked and gave me feedback on each piece. This structure gives pupils time to find their feet without having to navigate different members’ ways of working. You get quite a lot of leeway in your first seat, especially, and it’s fine to make mistakes! I shadowed my supervisor to hearings, conferences and so on, but the focus was on written work.

In the second and third seats, I did work for a wider range of people (but with my supervisor allocating work and making sure that I wasn’t overloaded). The idea is that, by the end of nine months, most members of Chambers will have seen some of your work. All work in the second and third seats is double marked, against a scorecard, with feedback given by both markers. This makes the process feel very fair and objective.

I also had three oral advocacy assessments. For these, I was given a set of papers and two or three days to prepare, after which I appeared before two members of Chambers who acted as ‘judges’ and made the relevant application. The exercises focused on legal argument – for example, strike-out on a point of law.

The tenancy decision is made by the Pupillage and Tenancy Committee, on the basis of all the feedback gathered over the previous nine months from your written work and advocacy exercise (in some rare circumstances there can be a Chambers vote). It is fine to make some mistakes along the way, but the aim is to be hitting ‘tenancy standard’ fairly consistently in the last few months’ work.

Pupillage was a bit tiring at times, but it was incredibly effective at developing me as a lawyer. You spend a year doing what is often silk-level work, and getting feedback from very experienced barristers on what you’ve done well and what you could improve on.

The transition from pupil to tenant

Very smooth! The standard advice is that you should take an enormous holiday straight after the tenancy decision is made. After that, you can start work straight away – any earnings are on top of the pupillage award – and/or work with your final pupil supervisor to plug any gaps in experience.

The clerks will have an initial meeting with you to explain how things work and to discuss where you’d like to focus your practice etc. Most people keep their practice quite broad in the first two or three years at least, before deciding to become more specialised, but this is completely up to the individual tenant.

Right from the start, you are given total autonomy on how you want to develop your practice. Some people retain very broad practices even as QCs, and some people want to specialise quite early on. If you’re especially keen to do a particular area, the clerks will help you to target it.

Your first year of practice at 11KBW is rent free, and rent is capped at a lower rate than normal in your second year.

What is your practice like now?

Quite a lot of my day-to-day practice involves (by choice) employment law, which breaks down broadly into Employment Tribunal work (claims of unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing etc.) and High Court work (more ‘commercial’ cases, involving team moves, restrictive covenants and confidential information).

I also practise in other areas, especially information law (FOIA and data protection cases) and public law (judicial reviews). One of the great things about Chambers is that we have high quality practices in a lot of different areas, so there are juniors who focus on things as diverse as education law, public international law and environmental law.

It is hard to describe a typical day – the variety of the job is enormous, and is one of its biggest appeals for me. If I am doing a big trial, I could be in court for days at a time. On the other hand, in another month I might be doing a lot of drafting and advisory work and client calls, but only have four or five short hearings. This can vary heavily depending on luck, personal preference and practice area.

Chambers gets really good quality work, and you can get very early led experience in the High Court and appellate courts: in our first year of practice, my co-pupil appeared in the Supreme Court and I appeared in the Court of Appeal. There is also plenty of unled work to do, including for big-name clients and including at High Court and appellate levels (the Upper Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal are great forums in which to get early appellate experience in front of High Court judges).

The mix of led and unled opportunities is one of the things I like most about Chambers. Led work is good because it gives you the chance to learn from more senior barristers and it gets you involved in high-profile cases. But it’s also nice to run with things yourself sometimes, and to do your own advocacy. Junior tenants get a lot of good quality unled work in (for example) the Employment Tribunal and the First-Tier Tribunal.

My working hours are pretty variable, but I have complete control over how much I take on. Chambers really respects your autonomy, even when you are very junior. For example, I decided to take three months out to go abroad when I was only a couple of years into practice, and faced no pushback at all. The clerks won’t put a hearing in your diary without checking in with you first.

There have been periods in which I have ended up working long hours seven days a week, but that will generally be because I have overcommitted myself or am in the thick of a big case. The nature of the job is such that it’s hard to avoid weekend and evening work completely, but some people are very good at keeping it to a rarity. There is absolutely no obligation to take on so much work that it spills over into your evenings and weekends on a regular basis (or indeed to take on any particular level of work at all).

What is the culture of chambers?

Chambers is an incredibly friendly and supportive place to practice. I’ve lost count of the number of times that colleagues have helped me out with a legal question, an ethical conundrum or a stressful situation that I’ve found myself in.

I remember one occasion, in pupillage, on which I had somehow ended up agreeing to do a four-day trial in the Employment Tribunal via FRU. I bumped into another barrister as I left Chambers on the first morning, and she walked over to the Tribunal with me answering all of my newbie questions about procedure.

All this goes just as much for the clerks and other staff as other barristers. The clerks are great to work with and are very supportive, both in terms of helping you to develop your practice in the way that you want and in making your life a lot easier day to day.

Chambers is pretty sociable. We have a standing ‘Chambers tea’ once a week which is basically drop-in tea and cake, and there’s a committee that organises specific social events both in and out of chambers, probably about once a month or so. It’s generally easy enough to find someone to go to the pub with, of an evening, if you want to.

Top tips for those wanting to become a barrister/secure a pupillage at your chambers

The prerequisites are solid grades (subject to any mitigating circumstances) and the demonstration of interest through some combination of things like mooting, advocacy experience, career background etc. (although there is no particular magic formula there).

If you have those, then the key thing is to showcase your legal and advocacy skills at every stage of the application process. Make sure that your application form is super concise, and be prepared to argue a point at interview and on the assessed mini.