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Pupillage

Chambers now recruits through OLPAS, we have made offers to candidates for October 2012.  If you are interested in applying for commencing October 2013 please look at the pupillage provider section at https://www.pupillages.com.

Chambers places great importance on the recruitment and training of its pupils. It is the aim of Chambers to select individuals of the requisite intelligence, personality and all round ability to contribute positively to our environment and to our reputation.  Over the last 5 years we have offered tenancy to 10 of our pupils and we expect to recruit future tenants predominantly from our own pupils.

Outer Temple Chambers offers two funded pupillages per year.  Our current award is £32,500 for pupils starting in October 2012. Successful candidates may “draw-down” up to £7,500 of the pupillage award in the year before they commence pupillage.  Our pupils will also begin fee earning during their second-six.   See our pupillage policy for further details.

Chambers does not normally recruit third six pupils.  If a vacancy is identified and agreed for a third six pupil, the vacancy will be advertised on our website and on the relevant section of the Bar Council website.  Applicants will be asked to complete an application form.

What is pupillage like at Outer Temple Chambers?

The first six months consists of pupils shadowing their supervisor to court and conferences, as well as doing written work for them. Advocacy exercises start in the first six months, informally initially, and progressing on to assessed exercises in front of a more members of chambers. Emphasis is placed, especially in the early exercises, on training and gaining confidence as much as on assessment.
In the second six months, shadowing continues, but pupils will start to get papers in their own cases and go to court. This will involve a wide variety of cases, ranging from Magistrates’ Court prosecution and defence work, to employment hearings, and some smaller County Court matters.

Indeed the variety of work done by chambers is one of the attractions of the year in pupillage. There is an opportunity to see a wide spectrum of work, and a chance to appear in court for hearings in a number of areas of law. It is possible to gain some experience in the areas of law practiced in chambers before having to make any decision as to specialisation.

Members of chambers are always, in my experience, keen to offer help and advice about things that may seem impenetrable or impossibly daunting at first sight, and given the size of chambers and different areas of law practised, there is always someone who can help with whatever case you are grappling with.

Overall it is a challenging, and understandably sometimes stressful experience, but definitely a worthwhile one; it may come as something of a surprise come September that it is not the end of the journey, nor even the beginning of the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning.

Will Young, pupil 2009

Pupillage is divided into four three month periods, each of which will involve a pupil working under a different supervisor, generally in a different area of law, most likely covering one of chambers’ main areas of specialty; certainly personal injury and employment, and probably two of pensions, commercial and regulatory work.

Pupillage at Outer Temple is like air conditioning on the tube – an attempt to make an inevitably stressful and sweaty journey as comfortable as it can be. Pupils have four supervisors for three months each, ideally with practitioners in different fields. Their time is split between paperwork and court, with the balance shifting towards the latter as the second six gets underway. Informal but structured advocacy training during the first six aims to get pupils comfortable and competent on their feet, with formal oral and written exercises taking place during the second six. Most importantly, everyone is extremely approachable and supportive, especially the supervisors and members of the Pupillage Committee. There is always somebody on the end of a phone, whether you are in Bristol employment tribunal, Barking mags, or the Chancery Division. The breadth of Chambers’ practice means that pupillage is varied and challenging, and you constantly feel like you know very little about quite a lot. But that breadth of experience is what makes it one of the best pupillages on offer. The tenancy decision comes quicker than expected and it’s only once you’ve been added to the Chambers-wide email list that you realise that most of the gossip was not actually about you.

Robert Dickason, pupil 2008

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• The Outer Temple, 222 Strand, London WC2R 1BA, T: +44 20 7353 6381, F: +44 20 7583 1786, DX: LDE 351
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