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Pupillage

Garden Court Chambers has always been driven by our strong ethics and a passionate belief in human rights and social justice. Since our foundation in 1974, these principles have underlined all aspects of the work that Garden Court members do. Garden Court is renowned for its expertise in advancing the law on civil liberties, human rights and social justice.

We have been involved in many landmark cases and decisions, particularly in crime, immigration, claims against the police and public authorities and inquests. We have a long-standing reputation for taking on cutting-edge, claimant public law cases and our multi-disciplinary expertise allows us to take on the most innovative cases and contribute to developments in the law.

We currently have nearly 200 tenants working in and across a variety of practice areas including criminal defence, family law, housing, immigration and public law. Find out more about our practice areas.

Important Dates For 2023-2024 Pupillage Recruitment Year

23 November 2024 – Garden Court Chambers Pupillage Open Day
The Open Day will include talks from members of chambers, including some tenants who undertook their pupillage here, on:

Applying for pupillage
Pupillage structure and support
The tenancy decision
Life as a junior tenant at Garden Court

Prospective pupils will have the opportunity to meet members of chambers and the support staff in an informal environment and ask any questions they may have about pupillage and practice at Garden Court Chambers.

Where? Garden Court Chambers, 57-60 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LJ
When? 10AM – 1PM, Saturday 23 November 2024

PLEASE NOTE: In order to attend, you must register. Please CLICK HERE to be taken to the booking form.

Pupillage Recruitment Calendar - Please Note: dates will be updated as soon as the Bar Council publishes the new Pupillage Gateway timetable (Admin team, 30/09/2024)

25/11/2024 - all approved Pupillage vacancy advertisements will be published for prospective applicants to browse on the Gateway.

02/01/2025 – Pupillage Gateway submissions window opens at 11.59pm. You can now start submitting your applications for pupillage via the Gateway. We will not have access to your applications until the window closes.

06/02/2025 – Pupillage Gateway closes at 12.00pm. Garden Court Chambers will now begin the shortlisting process. Applicants will be notified and updated only through the Pupillage Gateway portal.

29/03/2025 - First Round Specialist Housing Pupillage Interviews.

30/03/2025 – First Round Specialist Crime Pupillage Interviews.

05/04/2025 - First Round General Pupillage Interviews. Candidates will be notified by 10th of April whether they have been shortlisted for an interviewed.

12/04/2025 - Final Round Interviews for Specialist Housing Pupillage. Your interview slot will be allocated at random. Candidates will be sent the exact time slot in the week before.

13/04/2025 - Final Round interviews for Specialist Crime Pupillage. Your interview slot will be allocated at random. Candidates will be sent the exact time slot in the week before.

Across 26/04/2025 and 27/04/2025 – Final Round General Pupillage Interviews. You will be interviewed on one of these days, not both. Your interview slot will be allocated at random. Candidates will be sent the exact time slot in the week before.

09 May 2025 – Offers will be sent out after 9.30am in accordance with Bar Council regulations.

Structure

Garden Court usually offers four 12-month pupillages, which consists of three general pupillages and one specialist crime pupillage. Additionally, we offer other pupillages depending on need.

Our pupillages are highly structured with relevant in-house training sessions running throughout the year. Your training will include sessions on specific drafting skills, bail applications, judicial review and trial advocacy, to name a few.

Pupillage is divided into two parts; six months as a non-practicing pupil, and six months as a practicing pupil.

We aim to provide our pupils with as much opportunity as possible to observe different areas of law in practice. Therefore, you will have three supervisors from three different areas of law during your pupillage.

First six months

Your first six months will be divided between your ‘first six’ supervisor, who you will be working with for four months, and your satellite supervisor, who will supervise you for the final two months of your first six months.

You will also be encouraged to shadow other barristers to experience a range of practicing styles. This will include shadowing a junior criminal law practitioner to prepare you for when you are ‘on your feet’ during your ‘second six’.

Second six months

In your second six months, you will have a different supervisor, usually a criminal practitioner, and most of your time will be spent in court. Most of the time you will be doing your own cases, but you will also be expected to cover work for other barristers.

You will meet regularly with your supervisors to discuss your progress.

Throughout your pupillage, the Operations Manager will be your main point of contact and will meet with you regularly to ensure that your pupillage is running smoothly. You will also be assigned a ‘buddy’; a junior practitioner who also did pupillage at Garden Court Chambers and who will be available to you for support.

Pupillage award

The pupillage award at Garden Court Chambers is £41,200. This is divided into £34,000 during your first six months and £7,200 as guaranteed earnings in your second six months.

Pupils will receive an annual zone 1-6 London Travelcard. Chambers will also fund the cost of travel outside of Zone 6 when attending cases with Supervisors.

In addition to the extensive internal training, Chambers will also fund attendance at relevant events such as conferences or seminars.

Assessment

During your pupillage, your supervisors will produce feedback on the period of the time during which they supervised you. They will also seek comments from other tenants you produced work for. You will be asked to undertake two written assessments; one civil assessment and one criminal assessment.

In addition, you will also be asked to submit three different written pieces of work produced during your pupillage, from at least two different areas of law. Finally, there will be an interview and an advocacy exercise.

Tenancy

All pupils who reach the quality standard required by Garden Court Chambers will be offered tenancy, regardless of the area of law they wish to practice in.

For more information on pupillages at Garden Court Chambers, please see our Pupillage Guide or contact Saleh Ahmed on saleha@gclaw.co.uk

Mini Pupillage

Garden Court Chambers organises two mini-pupillage courses each year. The first is held in March and the second is in September/October. On each occasion, we take 8 – 10 mini-pupils.

September 2024 Mini Pupillage week dates:

3rd June 2024 - Applications OPEN
9th August 2024 - Applications CLOSE, 10 AM Deadline
9th - 13th September 2024 - Mini Pupillage Week

CLICK HERE FOR APPLICATIONS.

Link to applications will be posted on the 3rd June 2024.

On each day of the course, mini-pupils are offered the opportunity to attend court or other hearings, work on legal research in Chambers and attend conferences. Early evening de-briefing sessions are organised and followed up with a talk from a barrister from the different practice teams at Garden Court Chambers. It is expected that mini-pupils will attend the whole week.

Unfortunately, Garden Court Chambers is not able to offer any placements outside of our dates and only applications made using the online form on our website will be considered. The application form will be available only during the application window when the dates have been confirmed. All applications will be sent to a member of the Pupillage Committee for review. They will select the successful candidates and provide a list of reserves.

Our mini-pupillage weeks are intended purely for work experience and are only available to persons over 18 years of age. The criteria used for assessing mini-pupillage applications are different from those applied to pupillage. We do not require potential applicants to our pupillage scheme to have completed a mini-pupillage with Garden Court Chambers.

If you have any queries regarding mini-pupillage, please e-mail minipupillage@gclaw.co.uk

We aim to offer mini-pupillages to those who share our commitment to human rights, social justice and equality and to those who would benefit the most from the experience.