PATTERN OF PUPILLAGE
A pupil will normally be attached to one pupil supervisor for the first three months of pupillage and will be involved in every aspect of his or her practice. In order to ensure that the pupil obtains a wide breadth of experience, however, he or she will then change pupil supervisor about every two months or so for the remaining time as a pupil.
YOUR WORK
The work of a pupil is diverse. A large component will be helping in the preparation of trials and applications and attending Court with your pupil supervisor. It will also include drafting statements of case, researching the law, writing opinions and attending conferences, where advice is given and the case is discussed with solicitors, clients and expert witnesses. These are all skills which a barrister at 7 King’s Bench Walk can expect to use throughout his or her practice. We ensure that pupils have the opportunity to develop them during pupillage, and help them as far as we can to do so.
You will, of course, also attend Court with your pupil supervisor. This will enable you to see the preparation, in which you will have played a large part, put into practice. You will be able to observe many different styles of advocacy, not only those of your pupil supervisors, but also of opponents. Pupils will also be asked to undertake at least one advocacy exercise in front of members of Chambers during the course of the year, their performance in which will be taken into account in any decision regarding tenancy.
7 King’s Bench Walk uses the General Commercial Pupillage Checklist. You should expect to complete all the matters covered on the checklist within the period of your pupillage.
MONITORING OF PUPILLAGE
Pupils will be assessed by their pupil supervisors. In addition, 7 King’s Bench Walk operates a scheme whereby pupils are asked to do (at least) one piece of work for named pupil assessors during the last three months of their first six months and, if appropriate, during the first three months of their second six months of pupillage. A pupil may also work for other members of Chambers during this period if time permits. The allocation of such work is monitored by the pupil supervisors. Pupils should receive feedback from all the sources and should be given the opportunity to raise any questions they may have about their pupillage and to ask for feedback on the progress of their pupillage.
PROSPECTS UPON COMPLETION OF TENANCY
Save with regard to established practitioners and solicitors not required to undertake pupillage, we offer tenancies only after a candidate has been a pupil at 7 King’s Bench Walk.
Chambers continues to expand and candidates of ability therefore stand a good chance of obtaining a tenancy upon completion of pupillage.
AFTER THE TENANCY DECISION
Successful candidates can expect to spend the rest of their pupillage working on their own cases, under the guidance of their pupil supervisor. Their earnings, once taken on, will depend largely upon the amount of work they undertake. Recent experience suggests, however, that new tenants are able to earn as much as, if not more than, the salary of a trainee or assistant solicitor in a commercial firm. New tenants are not required to make more than a nominal contribution towards Chambers’ expenses until their income is such that they can genuinely afford to do so.
Pupils who have not been offered a tenancy are generally invited to complete their pupillage in Chambers. In practice, however, it is usually in their best interests to try to secure a second or third six months’ pupillage elsewhere. Chambers does all it can to assist pupils to find a place in another set of Chambers and, to date, we have been very successful in relocating a number of our former pupils who have gone on to obtain tenancies elsewhere.
