Pupillage
Our new tenants are recruited principally from our pupils. We therefore treat pupillage very seriously and apply a rigorous but fair selection procedure.
Each year we aim to offer two 12 month pupillages. Each pupillage carries an award which in the current year is £20,000 and additionally chambers will pay for an annual London Oyster card.
Application information
We are not currently a member of Pupillage Portal (formerly OLPAS) but we track its timetable. Our applications window for pupillages starting in October 2010 has now closed.
The applications window for pupilages starting in October 2011 opens on 30 March 2010 and applications must be submitted to Chambers by no later than 30 April 2010. We aim to hold the interviews in early July 2010.
Applications are by CV and covering letter addressed to David Glen. We have a minimum degree requirement of 2.1 save in exceptional circumstances. We look for candidates with tenancy potential who are academically strong and can demonstrate a genuine interest or experience in media and related areas of law.
Shortlisted candidates are given one piece of written work to prepare and send in prior to interview. A further short piece of work will be set at the interview.
Pupillage at One Brick Court
Each pupil at One Brick Court has a principal supervisor but additionally sits with between 4 and 5 barrister supervisors over the year. You will also do work for other members of Chambers, including silks.
The pupil supervisors will provide a solid grounding in the core areas of Chambers’ main work – defamation, privacy, breach of confidence and other media-related and information law such as reporting restrictions, contempt of court and data protection. There is also the opportunity to experience other areas of law as different supervisors have different specific expertise.
During pupillage you will shadow your supervisors closely, attending conferences and court hearings and reading and working on their ongoing cases. At the start of pupillage pupils will be given close supervision of their written work (including on statements of case, skeleton arguments, advices, first drafts of documents to be prepared by counsel and so on) so that you are equipped to deal with what will be a steep learning curve. As you progress through the 12 months the standard of your work will be expected to improve so that by the end the work is of sufficiently high quality to be comparable with that of a new tenant.
The day to day focus on supervisors’ work means you will also be encouraged to get involved in discussions as to the strategic, commercial and any ethical dimensions of their cases.
Chambers also offers the opportunity during pupilage of one month working in-house at one or more national newspaper or broadcaster. This is unpaid but former pupils have found it an immensely rewarding experience.
Due to the specialist nature of Chambers’ work there is no opportunity for pupils to take their own work in the second six months. Pupils will however be expected to participate in advocacy exercises during the year which are designed to give them experience of being on their feet and enabling Chambers to assess their progress. Pupils are also encouraged to take cases with FRU (the Free Representation Unit).