Pupillage Vacancy Information
The pupillage award is broken down as follows:
- £10,000 is paid during the year before the commencement of pupillage.
- £40,000 is paid in instalments during the first six months of pupillage.
- Billed earnings, free of chambers’ rent or contributions, are guaranteed at a minimum of £10,000.
- The total value of the package available at 7BR is therefore at least £60,000.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion
We welcome applications from candidates with a qualifying degree in any discipline and give no special preference to those with a law degree. We are happy to consider those coming to the Bar as a second career.
7BR is committed to equal opportunities. We encourage and welcome applications from groups under-represented in the legal sector and we will always make reasonable adjustments for candidates with disabilities.
How to Apply
Aspiring barristers are invited to apply to chambers between Wednesday 4 January 2023 and Wednesday 8 February 2023 using the Pupillage Gateway application system to search for the relevant Pupillage Vacancy and selecting ‘Apply for this pupillage’.
In addition to the standardised Bar Council questionnaire, candidates will be asked to respond to the following questions from Chambers:
1. Why do you believe you will make a good barrister? In your answer, please identify any relevant experiences or skills that you believe may help you in your career. (1000 characters)
2. Which areas of legal practice are you interested in and how does this inform your decision to apply to 7BR? (1000 characters)
3. Apart from academic studies, which two experiences have most influenced you and why? (750 characters)
4. Any special features not already mentioned. Include here any mitigating features in respect of your exam results (please refer to (g) on the ‘selection process’ page on the 7BR website). (500 characters)
5. For his sixteenth birthday on 1 July 2017, Bradley Wiggin’s parents gave him a new Condor bicycle. Bradley took his new bicycle for a trial run along Upper Street in the London Borough of Islington (“LBI”). As he approached a junction the traffic lights changed from amber to red and he braked hard. Unfortunately, there was a large amount of gravel and dirt on the road surface. Bradley came off his cycle and landed on his head, suffering a serious traumatic brain injury (he was not wearing a helmet). He was taken to hospital with a Glasgow Coma Score of 3/15. After 12 months in hospital, Bradley was diagnosed with a permanent vegetative state or post-coma unresponsiveness, and he was discharged to a rehabilitation centre for full-time care. On 1 January 2023, 5 ½ years after the accident, the centre closed because of a lack of government funding, and Bradley’s parents began to care for him at home. Bradley’s parents decide to investigate a claim against LBI to recover the funds to look after him. LBI is the highway authority responsible for Upper Street. A police investigation at the time of the accident established that LBI had made a decision not to sweep Upper Street and this had allowed the accumulation of the gravel and dirt on the road surface that caused Bradley’s accident.
Mr and Mrs Wiggin seek legal advice from their solicitor, Perry Mason. She advises them Bradley has a claim against LBI for breach of their statutory duty under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, and in negligence. She also advises that Bradley will have to rely on section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 as the 3-year limitation period under section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980 has now expired. Perry Mason sends you the papers to draft the Particulars of Claim and to advise generally. Is the advice she has given to the parents correct?
(1500 characters)
About AETO and Structure of Pupillage
Who we are
7BR is a multi-disciplinary set with an outstanding reputation for advocacy and for the high quality work we attract across a range of complementary practice areas. Our key practice areas are: clinical negligence; personal injury; product liability; serious crime and complex fraud; employment and discrimination; child and family; inquests; Court of Protection; public law and inquiries.
We are a friendly, welcoming chambers and our members come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Whilst we are all self-employed individuals, we support one another as colleagues.
We are proud of our distinguished alumni who include Lord Chief Justices, Lord Justices of Appeal and High Court Judges. Our members routinely appear in high profile, law-changing and important cases, including cases in the Supreme Court. Many of us, and chambers as a whole, are ranked highly in the directories.
We own the buildings from which we practise and in 2020 completed extensive renovations. The building provides an optimal working environment with the latest technology.
A significant proportion of chambers’ work, particularly criminal and family work, is outside London (predominantly in the Midlands). Some members in these areas of practice regularly travel to a number of different court centres, although the advent of remote hearings means this is less true than it once was.
Candidates are invited to browse the ‘pupillage’ section of our website, and in particular may wish to listen to some or all of our podcast series on pupillage. We host a virtual open day each year. The most recent was on 16 November 2022, and a recording is available on our website.
Pupillage at 7BR
We pride ourselves on the investment we place in our pupils. The structure of pupillage at 7BR ensures that all pupils receive training in civil, criminal and family law, with a unique arrangement that allows pupils to choose a practice area for their last four-month “seat” and tailor their pupillage to their interests. Our pupillage programme is designed to develop and challenge, equipping candidates with the skills and experience needed to enjoy a successful and stimulating career. Having invested heavily in each pupil, we do what we can to help them succeed.
Pupils are always welcome at chambers events and any member – whether supervisor or not – is happy to support and advise them in their work. Whilst chambers is based in London, pupils will be required to travel, and to manage a demanding schedule across all our practice areas.
Our retention rate is excellent and in the past ten years we have offered tenancy to 19 of 22 pupils. Pupils are not in competition with each other; we have plenty of work and if you are good enough, we will offer you a tenancy. This also means pupils often develop close and supportive friendships over the course of the year.
What are we looking for?
This year, we will recruit up to three pupils, to commence pupillage in October 2024.
Whilst we welcome both candidates who are committed to the Bar but who are still working out the areas in which they will specailise, and those who already know where they wish to end up, we require successful candidates to commit to our ethos. Whilst our members usually specialise as they become more senior, all of our very junior tenants are expected to undertake a mixed practice, giving them broad-based advocacy experience at the start of their career. We believe that early experience across practice areas, on our feet and in our written advocacy, provides firm foundations for success in any specialism, and means we are well placed to undertake work in some of the most interesting cases at the intersections between various fields of law.
We are looking for highly motivated, hardworking applicants who have the potential to be exceptional advocates. In your application, you will also need to demonstrate that you have the necessary intellectual and analytical skills to be able to understand and advise on complex legal issues across a variety of practice areas. You will need to show first-rate communication skills, both oral and written.
Any Other Relevant Information
Chambers will be using the RARE contextualised recruitment tool this year, and candidates will be sent questionnaire on or very shortly after the closing date for completion, which must be returned by 20 February 2022.
