Pupillage Vacancy Information
About Authorised Education and Training Organisation
1 Crown Office Row, is recognised as one of the leading sets in the UK, particularly in the fields of Civil and Public law. Our commitment to excellence has led to an equally dedicated and diverse client base, which includes entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, NGOs and local and central Government.
1COR has a stellar reputation for advocacy, court-craft, and specialist advisory work. Our barristers are known both for their forensic expertise and the versatility of their talent, which underpins all their work.
Members practise in a broad range of Civil Law specialisms including Healthcare Law, Public Law, Professional Discipline, Professional Negligence, Inquests, Public Inquiries, Human Rights, Environmental Law, Immigration, Tax, Specialist Crime and Multinational Torts.
1COR has a pre-eminent reputation in Healthcare Law, including its Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury practice, and Regulatory work for leading medical organisations and individuals. Chambers has been awarded Clinical Negligence Set of the Year 2024 at both the Legal 500 Bar Awards and the Chambers UK Bar Awards.
Members regularly appear for Core Participants in many of the most significant and high-profile Inquests and Inquiries, both public and private. Recently, this has included the Covid Inquiry, Croydon Tram Inquest, Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Hillsborough Inquests, Horizon Post Office IT Inquiry, Infected Blood Inquiry, Paterson Inquiry, Reading Terror Attack Inquests, Thirlwall Inquiry (Lucy Letby) and the Undercover Policing Inquiry. 1COR was awarded Inquests & Inquiries Set of the Year at Chambers UK Bar Awards 2024
Tax, Costs, Immigration and Environmental Law are specialist practice areas for a large number of 1COR members, who have been involved in many of the leading cases in these areas in the European Court, Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. This has included the Supreme Court ruling on Asylum Seekers to Rwanda .
Structure of Pupillage
Pupillage is divided into four stages, each supervised by a principal Pupil Supervisor. These are the people with whom you will spend most of your time. The pupil’s progress is formally reviewed by the Pupil Supervisor at the end of each stage but in practice there is constant written feedback with every piece of work that you do. You will know how well you are doing and if you are going astray, we will tell you how to get back on the right track.
Chambers has a written grievance procedure for pupils. If a concern arises in relation to discrimination or harassment or related issues, the pupil may also utilise the procedures established under the Chambers Equality and Diversity and Harassment Policies.
In your first six months, you will be expected to produce high quality written work, both advices and pleadings. It is important to get this right and your Pupil Supervisor will be keen to get you to improve. Try and pay careful attention to what goes on in Court. It may be cosy sitting behind your Pupil Supervisor as a passive spectator now, but in a few months you will be standing in Court on your own.
We do not expect you to work the same hours as your Pupil Supervisor. We do not want you to work in the evenings and at weekends. We only want you to work 9am to 6pm (although sometimes, particularly when you are working on your own cases, you may find yourself working different hours).
Pupillage can be tiring. There is a lot to learn. It is important to pace yourself and we expect you to take holidays. Pupils have 20 working days holiday each year: 10 days in the first six months and 10 days in the second six months of pupillage.
Financial and Other Support Available
For pupils starting in October 2026, Chambers are offering pupillage awards of £70,000 to each 12-month pupil. The award comprises £35,000 payable monthly for the first 6 months (paid in six equal increments monthly) and, during the second 6 months, a further £35,000 also paid in monthly increments, by way of “guaranteed earnings”. The latter arrangement means that during their second 6 months, any receipts earned by a pupil in one month will be deducted from the monthly sum paid by Chambers in the following month. Funded third six pupils are remunerated in the same way as second 6-month pupils.
In the case of fees, there are no contribution charges on fees collected during the pupillage period. When pupils become new tenants they are able to utilise our financial support policies as they require to ensure they build a stable practice. More information about our commitment to assisting new tenants is can be found below in ‘Early Years of Tenancy.’
Prospective pupils may be permitted to draw down up to £25,000 in advance of the commencement of their pupillage to help cover their expenses during their Bar Vocational Course training (or any other suitable education or experience undertaken in the year before the start of pupillage) subject to signing an appropriate commitment to pay back the sum in the event of their being unable to start pupillage with us. Any sums drawn down will be deducted from the award made for the first six months – with the six monthly instalment reducing pro-rata.
Chambers also pays for all training courses required during pupillage including the advocacy courses, the Advice to Counsel course and the Forensic Accounting course.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion
1COR believes strongly in encouraging equality and diversity at the Bar, including in recruitment and the pupillage process itself, and has a range of policies reflecting this position. To find out more about equality and diversity initiatives at 1COR, see: https://www.1cor.com/london/about-us/equality-and-diversity/ .
1COR operates an Equality & Diversity Mini Pupillage Scheme, which is designed to assist the Bar in becoming as diverse and inclusive as possible by attracting able university students and postgraduates from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds as well as encouraging applications for pupillage at 1COR from some of the brightest and most hard-working applicants.
Within this scheme, we offer a guaranteed a first-round interview for pupillage to those applicants who perform well in their assessed mini-pupillages.
The scheme is open to applicants from less advantaged backgrounds who meet the criteria set out on our website: https://1cor.com/london/2022/05/16/equality-diversity-mini-pupillage-scheme-2/. Our current Accessibility Officer is Alasdair Henderson, alasdair.henderson@1cor.com.
How to Apply
Aspiring barristers are invited to apply to Chambers between 2 January 2025 and 6 February 2025 using the Pupillage Gateway application system to search for the relevant Pupillage Vacancy and selecting ‘Apply for this pupillage’.
Candidates will be asked to respond to the following questions from Chambers:
1. Why do you believe you will make a good barrister? (Max word 300)
2. Why do you want to join our Chambers? (Max word 300)
3. Did the Supreme Court in Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses v BXB cast the net of vicarious liability too narrowly? (Max word 300)