Pupillage Vacancy Information
Guildhall Chambers is one of the UK’s leading multidisciplinary sets, with a national reputation for formidable advice, advocacy and client service. We are described in the directories as “an amazing set” offering “first-class“ service where “the quality all round is phenomenal”.
Chambers comprises 87 barristers including 11 silks practising from Bristol. We also have premises in London on the Strand, directly opposite the Royal Courts of Justice. We are ranked by Legal 500 in 18 practice areas, with 89 individual rankings. Chambers UK Bar ranks us as a top-tier, leading set in 20 practice areas with 80 individual rankings, putting Guildhall Chambers in the top 20 UK sets nationally by number of practice area rankings.
We are proud to be ranked so highly in all our core practice areas and our strength is further reflected in our continued success with legal awards: chambers won ‘Set of the Year – Regional Bar’ at the 2015 Legal 500 Bar Awards and ‘Regional Set of the Year’ at the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2017 and has received several other nominations since. This year, chambers was shortlisted for three awards at the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2024.
Although we are a multidisciplinary set, our established civil members are organised in specialist teams. Guildhall’s civil teams are Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury, Commercial, Employment & Discrimination, Insolvency and Property/Trusts/Estates. More information about each of these areas can be found on our website. We feel that this specialist team approach best meets the needs of our clients and leads to better service provision. Pupillage is, therefore, undertaken within the structure of a specialist team or teams.
Chambers is offering one commercial & chancery pupillage split between the Commercial, Insolvency and Property/Trusts/Estates teams, to start in October 2026. The split will be tailored to the interests of the pupil and also the needs and requirements of the teams.
The Commercial team has 24 members and a national reputation for its expertise in commercial dispute resolution work. The team covers a wide range of commercial work including banking and financial services work, professional negligence, company disputes and technology and construction disputes. Members of the team have undertaken work in the Supreme Court, and regularly appear in the Court of Appeal, in the High Court in London and in the specialist Business and Property Courts outside of London, as well as in County Courts across the country.
The Insolvency team has a national reputation for excellence and attracts high quality work with a particular focus on complex, high value and high-profile cases. The team is made up of a mix of barristers ranging from junior members who have recently completed their pupillages to experienced KCs and frequently appear in the leading reported cases. The head of the team sits as a Deputy Insolvency and Companies Court Judge.
The Property/Trusts/Estates team has a longstanding reputation for real property, trusts and probate work and is recognised as such in the leading directories, with members regularly instructed in significant High Court matters and matters litigated in the specialist property tribunals.
In their first six months, a pupil can expect to see a wide variety of cases within the practice areas covered by those specialist teams, ranging from winding up and bankruptcy petitions to heavyweight Business and Property Courts litigation. They will undertake paperwork and shadow members of Chambers at court hearings and in conferences. In the second six, pupils will undertake their own cases at the junior end of the work undertaken by those specialist teams.
Chambers is committed to ensuring that our pupils receive the highest quality training and guidance. Our aim is not only to ensure that our pupils excel in the necessary competencies within the Professional Statement, but that they also develop as individuals who are rounded and confident advocates, with the skills and insight they will require for a successful career at the Bar.
Pupils’ progress is monitored closely by their supervisor(s) and feedback is given regularly. Pupils will spend time with, and do work for, as many members of the team(s) as possible to gain maximum experience of different types and styles of work and levels of seniority. Members will provide constructive feedback to the pupil on every piece of work undertaken.
A career at the Bar is incredibly rewarding; however, it is also challenging. That is why each pupil has, as well as a supervisor, a mentor who is another member of the team to whom he or she can turn in confidence if necessary. It is of great importance to Chambers that each pupil feels properly supported during what can be an exciting and daunting year. Our objective is to help each and every pupil fulfil their potential.
Applicants are expected to demonstrate intellectual ability; excellent communication/ advocacy skills; an ability to work under pressure; flexibility of thinking; sound judgement and good interpersonal skills, as well as the determination and temperament required to build their own practice. It is also desirable for candidates to be able to demonstrate an interest in and commitment to specialist practice within the specialist teams referred to above.
Our selection process aims to be rigorous and fair, and to comply with the Bar Standards Board Bar Qualification Manual and the Fair Recruitment Guide. We select pupils on ability and potential alone, without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
Financial level of support: £25,000 grant and £30,000 guaranteed earnings. £7,500 can be drawn down in the vocational training year.
Questions – Commercial, Insolvency and Property/Trusts/Estates:
- Why are you interested in practising in one or more of the areas of law referred to above?
- What are your reasons for applying to Guildhall Chambers?
- Why do you believe you will make an exceptional barrister? In your answer, please identify the relevant experience and skills that you believe will help you in your career.
- Please give an example of a time when you have used advocacy skills in a non-legal and difficult situation to achieve a better outcome.
- Please identify an important case or development in the law in the last year (relevant to one or more of the areas of law referred to above) and explain why you find it interesting?
All questions have a maximum character count of 1250
