First and Second Six Pupillage

Chambers is delighted to announce that we are offering two funded 12-month pupillages to begin in October 2022. To apply, see 'Applying for Pupillage' below.

Apply­ing for Pupil­lage

Applications for a funded 12-month pupillage to begin in October 2022, should be made via Pupillage Gateway between 11am on 5th January and 11am on 9th February 2022. Chambers’ page on Pupillage Gateway can be accessed here.

Candidates invited to attend a first and/or second round interview will be interviewed in the period March to May 2022. 

Chambers will make offers to successful candidates after 6th May 2022.

We wish all eligible candidates the best of luck with their applications.

Pupillage Standard

We expect appli­cants to have an upper-second class degree. It will not be a dis­ad­van­tage if that is not in law. We wish to recruit out­stand­ing can­di­dates regard­less of race, colour, creed, reli­gion, or gender.

Our Approach

We like to think of pupils as an invest­ment in the future of cham­bers. Our selec­tion process is exten­sive, rig­or­ous but fair. At 33 Bedford Row every effort is made to cre­ate a relaxed envi­ron­ment where pupils will thrive in their pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment. The width and breadth of work we offer will pro­vide a pupil with a solid foun­da­tion upon which to start a career at the Bar. We encour­age prospec­tive appli­cants to apply for mini-pupillages.

Pupil­lage at 33 Bedford Row

As a pupil at 33 Bedford Row, you will have four pupil super­vi­sors through the year. Pupil super­vi­sors are cho­sen to ensure that each pupil gets a solid ground­ing in the four core areas of Cham­bers’ work – Civil, Crime, Family and Regulatory Law. Dur­ing each seat, we encour­age pupils to be involved in every aspect of their pupil supervisor’s work. We try to give our pupils a rounded overview of a barrister’s role, and equip them for the chal­lenges they will face in prac­tice. Our aim is to give you all the skills you will need to be an out­stand­ing advocate. Beyond these four core areas, you will expe­ri­ence your super­vi­sors’ par­tic­u­lar areas of exper­tise. You will be encour­aged to par­tic­i­pate in research and to work for other ten­ants to broaden and build on those core areas. From your very first day, you will be expected to get involved in your pupil supervisor’s work. The typ­i­cal work involves doing legal research, prepar­ing first drafts of skele­ton argu­ments, open­ing notes and writ­ten advices. Often you will be asked to pre­pare an exam­i­na­tion in chief, cross-examination and both open­ing and clos­ing speeches.

You will be expected to pre­pare and attend con­fer­ences with clients, to con­tribute if asked to and to dis­cuss the strate­gic, pro­ce­dural and eth­i­cal ele­ments of cases with your supervisor. We place great empha­sis on the close work­ing rela­tion­ship between pupil and super­vi­sor. We strongly encour­age our pupils to take on pro bono cases with FRU or other char­i­ties, and we will pro­vide sup­port and ensure that you have the time you need to ded­i­cate to pro bono work. There is a struc­tured pro­gramme of feed­back so that at the end of each seat, you will be assessed against a set of cri­te­ria, the idea is to iden­tify any issues very early on and pro­vide the help and assis­tance nec­es­sary. You will in addi­tion be set writ­ten work once a month which will be assessed by a senior mem­ber of cham­bers and one junior. In addi­tion, there will be in house advo­cacy ses­sions which will increase in reg­u­lar­ity and inten­sity the closer the pupil comes to start­ing the sec­ond six months.

Second and Third Six Pupillages

Chambers has a strong commitment to recruiting junior members across all practice areas of Chambers and welcomes applications from exceptional and talented candidates with a strong background in the Chambers core practice areas.

Our Third and Second Six pupils can expect to be in court on a regular basis and will have a dedicated pupil supervisor to monitor their work and progress. Our pupils will be expected to be able to conduct hearings across a broad spectrum of courts and tribunals, both with their own case load and Chambers case load.

In selecting a Second or Third Six Pupil Chambers looks for the following qualities: 

• Intellectual ability.
• Effective examples of advocacy.
• Demonstrated interest in the area of work for which the Pupillage is being offered.
• Committed work ethos.

In addition to the above we expect our pupils to be keen to learn, exhibit original thinking and be committed to the practice area.

Chambers is fully aware of the difficulties for those who join the Bar and to that end pupils will not be expected to pay Chambers rent but commission during the course of their pupillage term.

Applications for Second and Third Six Pupillages are to be made in the first instance to the Head of the Pupillage Committee by way of CV and covering letter. Explaining why you believe you meet the criteria set out.

Chambers operates a fair recruitment policy and is committed to the Equality and Diversity Code of the Bar.

Ten­ancy deci­sion

33 Bedford Row has a grad­ual pol­icy of expan­sion and look­ to take on out­stand­ing pupils as ten­ants but not every­one who applies will be offered a ten­ancy. Our deci­sion will be based on your over­all per­for­mance in pupillage but par­tic­u­lar regard will be given to the feed­back from oth­ers about your writ­ten work and per­for­mance in the advo­cacy training.