Pupillage Vacancy Information
The 12-month pupillage will carry an award of £65,000. The award for the first six months will be £43,333 of which half can be drawn down in advance (upon request) during the Bar Professional Training Course year. The award for the second six months will be £21,667. Chambers reserves the right to require the repayment of the whole or any part of the amount drawn down in the event that the pupil does not complete the six months of pupillage.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion
Chambers is fully committed to equal opportunity and diversity. We believe that everyone should have the ability to fulfil their potential and we abhor any form of prejudice or discrimination in relation to gender, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexuality, class or age. All applications for pupillage will be considered purely on the basis of merit.
How to Apply
Applications should be made by way of completing an Application Form which is available at www.fieldtax.com (on the Pupillage page) and emailing it to pupillage@fieldtax.com. Enclosed with the Application Form is a Diversity Monitoring Questionnaire: you are not obliged to answer all or any of the questions but in providing this information you will help us ensure that our recruitment is fair and objective for all. Applications must be submitted between 10am on Wednesday, 4th January 2023 and 10am on Wednesday, 8th February.
About AETO and Structure of Pupillage
Field Court Tax Chambers are a specialist tax set of 8 members (3 Silks and 5 Juniors). The Head of Chambers is Patrick Soares.
Structure of Pupillage
A pupil will be assigned to one pupil supervisor but will additionally spend time with other members of Chambers. Pupillage will be a mixture of time spent in Chambers, attending the tribunals/courts, and possibly attending conferences or lectures out of Chambers. When in Chambers the pupil will spend time inter alia reading papers, drafting opinions and pleadings, carrying out research, and sitting in on conferences. At conferences, an in the tribunals/courts pupils are expected to take comprehensive notes. The pupil will not receive instructions from clients during any stage of pupillage.
Any Other Relevant Information
Candidates are required to have a strong academic background. We require candidates to have a minimum of an Upper Second Class (i.e. a 2:1) undergraduate degree unless there are exceptional reasons why this is not the case. Further, candidates are expected to be able to demonstrate an interest in practising tax law (e.g. having studied some tax law).
Short-listed candidates will be called for interview. The interviews will be conducted by a minimum of two members of Chambers: each interview will last around 30 minutes; candidates will be asked in detail about their application forms; the panel may also ask one or more hypothetical questions. Candidates who are successful in the first interview will be asked for a second interview where, if possible, all members of Chambers will be present. The interviewing process remains similar to that of the first interview, save for the following. Immediately prior to an interview each candidate will be asked to complete a written assessment. The candidate will have a fixed amount of time (45 minutes) in which to complete the written task. Members of Chambers will read what is produced prior to conducting the interviews and may ask the candidates questions related thereto. Ordinarily the written task will be completed within Chambers but if an interview is being conducted remotely then adjustments will be made.
A decision whether to retain the pupil as a tenant will be taken towards the end of the 12 month pupillage (normally 2 months before the pupillage ends). There is no guarantee that a tenancy will be offered to the pupil, but the expectation when offering pupillage is that the pupil will be of sufficient calibre to merit an offer of tenancy.
