Pupillage

Monckton Chambers' work is at the crossroads of commercial, public and European law, and we are a market-leading set in the work that we do.  Pupillage at Monckton provides training of the highest quality across these and other legal specialisms; delivered by, and through, the opportunity of working with, barristers who are leaders in their fields, fighting cases and advising clients in the context of rapidly developing areas of law.

Much of what we do is concerned with the relationship between business and government, with, for example, a commercial party looking to challenge the exercise of state power.  Very often that challenge will have a European law element.  We are also dealing with a growing number of cases concerning human rights, often in a commercial context.  Our work provides scope for both specialisation and variety.

Whatever the case, our work is intellectually challenging and rewarding.  The types of work that we do often give rise to legal problems and disputes that are enjoyably complex and interesting.  As a result, members of Chambers can expect to receive a diet of high quality instructions from their early days of practice.  As a pupil and then as a junior tenant, you would be working on some of the leading cases in the domestic courts and European Court of Justice, and to an increasing extent also the European Court of Human Rights.

Moreover, in a changing legal world, Monckton Chambers is set to maintain its position. Developments in the law and elsewhere mean that the amount of litigation and advisory work in our areas of practice is expanding, and we continue to enjoy significant year on year growth.

Preparation for tenancy

We only recruit pupils who we consider to have the clear potential to be our successful tenants in the future.  We are committed to a policy of expansion and have an unusually strong history of offering tenancies to our pupils, which we think is partly due to the care we take with the initial pupillage selection process.  We do not recruit a greater number of pupils than the number of tenancies we expect to offer (to candidates of the right quality). We are proud of our record of offering tenancies to our pupils and would be happy to provide you with details of our recruitment statistics over the past 10 years.

The fact that so many of our pupils become tenants demonstrates our commitment to the quality of training that our pupils receive.  From the first day of pupillage, our objective is to realise the pupil's potential, providing training that will enable them to become a successful tenant in these Chambers; helping to maintain our position as a leading set in the years to come.

Pupils rotate through three month "seats", each with a different pupil supervisor, thus gaining valuable experience spanning our complementary practice areas.  Feedback is a crucial part of the training process.  We aim to give feedback on every piece of work done, and pupils are provided with a written appraisal at the end of each seat.  Pupils do not sit formal tests or compete with one another.  Training is instead an interactive process in which we seek to accommodate the pupil's individual ambitions and interests, and help them to develop the legal knowledge, practical skills and sure judgement that will enable them to enjoy a lifetime of professional success.

Environment and outlook

Monckton is a progressive, friendly and mutually supportive place to work.  Chambers is run as a modern business, by both barristers and staff.  We have a dynamic clerking team combined with committed IT and marketing support.  Our premises in Gray's Inn provide a comfortable working environment and up-to-date client and conferencing facilities which reflect our forward-looking, client-focused approach.  We are strongly committed to fairness in the way we recruit pupils, tenants and staff, the way we treat one another, and the accessibility of our services to clients.  Our members and staff are drawn from a diversity of backgrounds, and our recruitment procedures are designed to select on the basis of merit alone.

Our pupillages

We typically offer two 12-month pupillages a year, each of which carries a pupillage award that is in line with those offered by other leading sets: currently £50,000, of which up to £15,000 can be taken during the BVC.

In addition, we may sometimes be able to offer an additional period of pupillage (sometimes called a "third six") to an individual who has already undertaken a pupillage elsewhere, and who is interested in becoming a tenant at Monckton Chambers.

What we are looking for

We are looking for candidates who have the set of abilities, personal skills and willingness to learn that will enable them to get the most out of our pupillage training programme and go on to enjoy successful careers as tenants in our Chambers. Successful candidates for pupillage will therefore need to demonstrate:

  • Academic excellence
  • Ability and appetite for intellectually challenging legal work
  • Excellent communication skills, both oral and written
  • Ability to reason and argue persuasively
  • Spirit and personality needed to succeed at the self-employed Bar

Candidates invited to interview will usually have a First Class or good Upper Second Class honours degree (which need not be in Law).  In addition, non-law graduates should have obtained, or be expecting to obtain, at least a Commendation in the CPE/PgDL.

However, in selecting candidates for interview, we also look beyond academic qualifications, to other evidence that a candidate has the skills and qualities we are looking for, and has a proven record of commitment, hard work and achievement.  Several members of Chambers have come to us after a previous career - for example, having previously worked as solicitors, academics or civil servants.  We do not have a mould that we are seeking to recruit pupils to fit into.  Rather, we look at each candidate on his or her merits, and believe that our selection process gives the best candidates a chance to shine.

Candidates should not feel that it is necessary to have previous experience or any detailed knowledge of our areas of law, and we do not discriminate between Law and non-Law graduates.  We are not interested in what you already know, but whether you have the potential to be a successful barrister in our areas of law.  It is, of course, desirable that you should have undertaken one or two mini-pupillages (whether in our Chambers or elsewhere) to satisfy yourself that you would enjoy a career at the Bar and are interested in the kinds of work that we do.

Our Equality and Diversity Commitment

Monckton Chambers is fully committed to equality of opportunity and to eliminating unlawful discrimination. We perceive diversity as a component of excellence, and women, minorities and members of other under-represented groups are encouraged to apply.  It is Chambers' policy to treat everyone equally and without discrimination on grounds of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, religion, belief or political persuasion, or any other irrelevant basis.  We are committed to providing a work environment in which individuals from a wide range of backgrounds can fulfil their potential.  Offers of Pupillage,  tenancy and employment are made solely on the basis of merit.

How to apply

We are a member of OLPAS (Online Pupillage Application System) and all applications for a 12-month pupillage should be made in accordance with that scheme.  For more information, please click here.

We currently recruit through the OLPAS "summer season", which means that applications have to be submitted to OLPAS by 30 April in the year preceding the October in which the pupillage is due to start.

Our interview process is in two stages.  The first interview is relatively informal: we try to find out as much as we can about the candidate, with a view to identifying skills, achievements and experiences that may suggest that he or she would make a good barrister in a chambers such as ours.  The questions we ask at this stage typically focus on the candidate's OLPAS application form.  The first interview also provides an opportunity for candidates to ask questions about Chambers and pupillage with us.

We offer a second interview to approximately half of those we have seen for a first interview.  The second interview is based on a legal problem that the candidate has been given to consider immediately before the interview.  The problem is intended to test the candidate's critical reasoning skills, rather than his/her knowledge of any particular area of law.  It is designed to provide us with a fair and objective way of selecting the best candidates from the small group of very able people who have made it through to the second round stage.

Candidates invited for a second interview who have not done a mini-pupillage in Chambers before are offered the opportunity of spending a few days with us before that interview so that they can learn more about what we do and experience the atmosphere in Chambers.

We anticipate first round pupillage interviews taking place on 4 and 5 June 2010.  Second interviews will be offered for 16 and 17 July 2010.

Special pupillages and hosting arrangements

The above information relates to individuals wanting to apply for a 12-month pupillage at Monckton Chambers with the aim of becoming a tenant.  In addition to such pupillages, however, we may exceptionally be prepared to offer a shortened period of pupillage to an individual who has already completed part of his or her minimum 12 months of pupillage elsewhere (whether through a period of pupillage or through legal training that has been accepted by the Bar Standards Board as standing in lieu of a particular period of pupillage).  We may also occasionally agree to host a pupil of another pupillage training organisation (such as the Government Legal Service) for a period of his or her pupillage, provided that the pupil in question does not intend to seek a tenancy at Monckton Chambers.

Any enquiries about such arrangements should be made in writing to the Head of Chambers.  Such arrangements can, of course, be considered only where compatible with all relevant professional rules.