Pupillage Vacancy Information
The Pupillage award for 2024 will be £60,000, half of which is guaranteed earnings. Pupils can also ask for an advance of up to £15,000.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion
Cloisters is committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst our workforce. Our aim is that our barristers, pupils and staff will be representative of all sections of society and that each of those individuals feels respected and able to give their best.
Cloisters has devised an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy to provide equality and fairness for all members of chambers’ workforce and not to discriminate on grounds of sex, gender reassignment, marital status (including civil partnerships), pregnancy and maternity, race, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, national origin, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief or age.
We encourage applications from candidates from non-traditional and under-represented backgrounds.
Our pupillage recruitment process is devised to eliminate unconscious bias as far as possible. Those involved in the recruitment process receive equality and diversity training.
An initial written assessment is anonymously double marked. Gateway forms are also blind double marked; names of candidates, educational institutions and referees are anonymised. When considering the gateway forms, we have up to two marks available to candidates who have overcome disadvantage in their journey to the bar; full details are set out in our mark scheme which is available on our website. We also engage RARE contextualised recruitment to feed into the additional marks available. Our procedure for candidates with a disability to request reasonable adjustments to our process will be communicated to applicants in February. Such requests will be handled on a confidential basis.
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.Please tell us about any disadvantages you have faced in coming to the Bar. (character limit 1500)
2. Please tell us about any mitigating circumstances you may wish us to take into account when marking you application. (character limit 1500).
3. Please provide examples of any times you have demonstrated excellent advocacy skills. (character limit 1500).
4. Please provide examples of how your past experience demonstrates a commitment to our practice areas and values (character limit 1500).
5. Please provide examples of any times you have demonstrated excellent communication/interpersonal skills (character limit 1500).
6. Please provide examples of any times you have demonstrated independence of mind/initiative (character limit 1500).
About AETO and Structure of Pupillage
Cloisters is renowned for its pioneering work as well as being down to earth and practical.
We’re recognised for our responsive, first-class client focus and we believe it’s this combined with our technical excellence and commercial perspective that enables us to resolve the most complex legal problems for individuals and organisations of all sizes.
Many of our barristers are the undisputed leaders in their field and represent clients at every level up to the European Court. This includes our work on recent ground-breaking cases such as;
· Aslam & Ors v Uber BV and Ors [2021], - where the Supreme Court ruled that Uber drivers are workers.
· Harper Trust V Brazel [2019] which clarified the position on holiday pay for irregular workers on permanent contracts and how this should be calculated.
· Infected Blood Inquiry – current inquiry examining why men, women and children were given infected blood and/or infected blood products.
· Grenfell Tower Inquiry – where representation has been provided to the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) in assessing the systemic causes and cladding risks which resulted in the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Our core practice areas are employment, discrimination, personal injury and clinical negligence, and we welcome applications from candidates with a commitment to practicing in these areas. We also have a growing human rights/public law team, and a number of specialist practitioners who work in professional discipline, sports and entertainment law, and inquests/inquiries.
We are a supportive and nurturing set where everyone is given the opportunity to thrive and become the best in their field. We see our role as educating, supporting and developing our pupils in line with Cloisters' values which focus on commitment to excellence and delivering exceptional results for the people at the heart of our work.
Pupillage at Cloisters is split into four quarters, with a different supervisor for each one, of which two will be employment/discrimination specialists and two personal injury/clinical negligence specialists. In addition to working with and for supervisors, pupils are encouraged to do work for other members of chambers and to undertake pro bono work through FRU or law centres. There is a formal appraisal at the end of each quarter, in addition to the feedback given throughout pupillage by supervisors.
The tenancy decision is based on a series of assessed tasks undertaken during the second six months (drafting, legal research, advocacy, interview) and a small element for feedback from supervisors. The tasks are assessed against objective criteria. We recruit pupils with a view to offering tenancy; our aim is to train pupils to enable them to excel in these assessments. Pupils are not in competition with one another for tenancy places.
