Pupillage Vacancy Information
About Authorised Education and Training Organisation and Structure of Pupillage
FTB offer a highly competitive pupillage award of not less than £80,000* (including £15,000 guaranteed earnings in your second six) with an option to draw down up to £25,000 in the year before the commencement of your pupillage. Junior tenants can expect to earn considerably more than the pupillage award annually in their first few years of practice.
Pupillage is split into three four-month seats, each with their own supervisor. The first six months of pupillage is non-practising and the second six is practising. This means you will get court and other advocacy experience of your own early on in your career.
Pupils follow a bespoke training and assessment programme during their pupillage which is overseen by the Pupillage and Tenancy Committee. It is designed to ensure that pupils meet the thresholds and competencies specified by the Bar Standards Board in the Professional Statement. After twelve months of training, all of our pupils have the skills necessary to develop successful and rewarding careers at the public law Bar.
During the first four months of pupillage, our pupils attend fourteen practice area specific seminars delivered by members of Chambers. These are designed to teach pupils the basics of our specialist areas of law. A full list of the seminars which we host can be found here. Towards the end of the first four months of pupillage, our pupils take part in a mock High Court hearing. They are provided with written and oral feedback on their performance.
Pupils take part in two further assessed mock High Court hearings and two assessed mock planning inquiries. The mock planning inquiries are undertaken in conjunction with external consultancy firms who will act as witnesses in the run up to and during the inquires. The mock High Court hearings are often presided over by current or retired members of the judiciary. Pupils will receive written and oral feedback on their performances. These exercises are principally designed to allow pupils to develop their advocacy skills.
In their practising second sixes, our pupils are supported in building their own practices. Our pupils can regularly expect to be in court on their feet with their own clients and cases. As well as this, they will frequently be instructed as juniors to other members of Chambers in more complex cases. Pupils are also encouraged to work for other members of Chambers. We encourage our pupils to take on pro bono work as part of the Advocate Pupil Pledge.
As well as receiving written feedback on their performances in advocacy exercises, pupils receive regular feedback from their supervisors and from other members of Chambers that they work with. At the end of each seat, pupils receive a report from their supervisor and are given an opportunity to discuss their progress. Members of the Pupillage and Tenancy Committee meet with pupils throughout the year to monitor their progress.
Our pupils are encouraged to participate in Chambers social life throughout their pupillages. We assign our pupils a junior practitioner mentor at the beginning of their pupillages who they can go to for advice and support throughout the year. We pride ourselves on fostering a collaborative and collegiate atmosphere in Chambers and work hard to ensure that pupils feel part of this.
Pupils are automatically considered for tenancy towards the end of pupillage without the need for any further application or interview. The decision is taken on the basis of the assessments, pupillage supervisor feedback and work done for other members of Chambers. If taken on as tenants, pupils can expect to be supported by Chambers in their transition from pupil to tenant by our clerks and staff.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion
Chambers is committed to promoting and advancing diversity and equality among its members and staff. We do not discriminate on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, citizenship, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, political persuasion, disability, age or religion. FTB is anti-racist and committed to increasing its diversity. We fully endorse the Bar Council's Equality and Diversity Code. Applications for pupillage/tenancy/employment are particularly welcomed from women, members of ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities and other groups that are currently under-represented in Chambers.
Access to the profession is an acute issue which Chambers seeks to address. Chambers is involved in initiatives aimed at increasing diversity. That includes its partnership with the Planning and Environment Bar Association (PEBA) and other planning/public law sets in the Planning and Public Law Mentoring Scheme for Underrepresented Groups at the Bar, as well as its collaboration with the Sutton Trust Pathways to Law Programme. Further information about our work as part of each of our various initiatives is set out below.
Individual members support (and in some cases lead) programmes which seek to widen access to the profession. Examples include: the Lord Edmund-Davies Legal Education Trust, the University of Reading School of Law work experience bursaries scheme, the BLD Foundation, BME Legal and Bar Council social mobility activities
How to Apply
Aspiring barristers are invited to apply to chambers between 5 January 2026 and 22 January 2026 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. Do you think the Supreme Court’s decision in R (Finch) v. Surrey CC [2024] UKSC 20 will make it easier or harder for the UK to reach net zero by 2050? (max 400 Words)
2. s the use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), and in particular the use of Large Language Models (“LLMs”), for administrative decision-making or the exercise of administrative functions compatible with the public law duty to give reasons? What conditions would need to be satisfied before AI and LLMs could safely and lawfully be employed by public authorities to make decisions, or assist in decision-making? (max 400 Words)
3. Do you think there should be a distinct human right to a healthy environment? If so, what (if anything) would it add to existing human rights? (max 400 Words)
