Vacancies

Kings Chambers – 12 Months – October 2024

Equality Diversity and Inclusion

We value equality and diversity, and we welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds and all sectors of the community. Candidates for pupillage and for tenancy are assessed solely on the grounds of merit.  If you are disabled and require any adjustments to be made at any stage of the application and selection process, then please inform us of this and we will endeavour to accommodate your needs.

Our application process is designed to ensure fairness and we are wholeheartedly committed to the Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Code.

All personal information is redacted from Pupillage application forms prior to being provided to the reviewing panel. We monitor diversity by anonymised forms in which applicants are requested (but not required) to complete with their application. These forms are kept separate from the application forms and are only used for monitoring purposes.

How to Apply

This year we are looking to recruit a pupils to commence in September 2024 for each the following teams

• Business & Property
• Court of Protection/Public law 
• Employment
• Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence
• Planning

We are also looking to recruit an additional pupil for our Planning team to commence in September 2023.

Each pupillage will be a specialist pupillage in the team to which the pupil is recruited. There is a tenancy available for every pupil that we are satisfied meets our standard of excellence at the end of their pupillage.

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? 1200 characters

2. Why do you want to join our chambers? 800 characters

3. Please state which of the advertised pupillages area of law you wish to apply for and your preferred location between our Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds Chambers? 200 characters

4. Why are you interested in those areas of law? 1000 characters 

5. Please confirm if you would be happy to undertake your pupillage in a different location? 200 characters

6. Identify a case you believe was wrongly decided and explain why? 2500 characters

7. What are the most important challenges facing the Bar and how should we prepare to address them? 2000 characters 

About AETO and Structure of Pupillage

Kings Chambers was founded in Manchester in 1946, with premises in Leeds opening in 1996 and Birmingham in 2012.   We are firmly established as a leading civil set, trusted by national and international law firms, public and private sector organisations and individuals who all value the first-class representation and practical and commercial advice that Kings Chambers prides itself on.

The set now comprises more than 115 barristers including 20 King’s Counsel and combines advisory work with litigation and advocacy services. Our Members regularly appear in courts and tribunals across the country and frequently appear in leading cases in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.  We are ranked nationally as one of the country’s leading sets, providing barristers with the highest reputation in their fields of expertise.

At Kings Chambers, we believe that our clients' interests are best served by strong dedicated teams in an uncompromising attitude to quality and client service. Kings Chambers is committed to providing clients with high quality specialist legal services through barristers with the highest reputation for advocacy, knowledge, and professional standards.

Chambers is divided into the following departments:

• Administrative & Public Law
• Chancery and Commercial Law
• Planning and Environmental Law
• Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence

Within those departments members offer a number of areas of specialisms, details of which can be found by reference to the entries for the relevant departments on the website.

The success of Chambers has been built on the recruitment and development of pupils of the highest calibre and potential. Our recruitment process and the remuneration package we offer are intended to ensure that we recruit the best candidates in each year.

All offers of pupillage are made with a view to tenancy. This means that if you accept a pupillage and complete the same successfully you will be offered a tenancy in Chambers.

We aim to make pupils feel a part of Chambers from the time that they accept their offers of pupillage. To this end, pupils are invited to chambers events, both formal and informal, and encouraged to get to know both members and staff.

Structure of Pupillage

Pupillage will normally be based in Manchester Chambers (although consideration will be given to being based in our Leeds Chambers or Birmingham Chambers, where practicable, on request). Pupillage commences in the Autumn each year and lasts for 12 months. 

Pupillages offered at Kings Chambers are usually specialist pupillages offered in one of our specific departments. Pupils will therefore be allocated to a department within Chambers and Pupil Supervisors within that department. During the non-practising part of pupillage which takes place in the first six months, our pupils will shadow their respective pupil supervisor as well as other members of Chambers, carry out research and drafting on cases they are privy to.  During this period, pupils will attend all mandatory training either online or externally.  We also host our own internal training sessions for pupils.

When the second six-month period commences, pupils are normally assigned to a different Pupil Supervisor. Our clerks keep pupils very busy with their own caseload providing every opportunity to develop their advocacy skills. Pupils can expect to be in court 3 - 5 times a week.

In addition to having their allocated Pupil Supervisors, all pupils are also assigned to a ‘buddy’ who will be a junior member of chambers nearer to their year of call and who themselves will recently have undertaken pupillage at Kings, is not involved in the assessment process and is there to provide pastoral advice and support.  Chambers is fully committed to protecting the Health & Wellbeing of its members and pupils.  Further details of our policy can be found on our website.

At the commencement of pupillage, we host a group induction for all pupils in our Manchester Chambers which includes talks and an opportunity to meet the Head and Deputy Head of Chambers, Heads of Department, Head of Recruitment, Director of Pupillage Training, Chief Clerks, junior Members of Chambers, and Staff. An introduction to each other, to life in Chambers as well as explaining Chambers’ policies and procedures and the assessment process is provided.

Any Other Relevant Information

We invite applications from those committed to a career at the bar who can with outstanding analytical ability, sound judgment, the potential to become excellent advocates and a capacity to establish and maintain good relationships with clients. We require a degree classification of a good 2:1 as a minimum, albeit we will consider extenuating circumstances.
 

We encourage those interested in applying for pupillage to apply for our Mini Pupillage Programme so that they can see what chambers is like for themselves. Details of the programme we run can be found on our website

We expect to conduct first round interviews on the 9th & 10th March 2023 and second interviews on the 20th March 2023.