Pupillage Vacancy Information
The defining quality of Old Square Chambers is excellence. Our members regularly appear in landmark cases before the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, and Employment Appeal Tribunal, placing Chambers at the forefront of UK law.
We are a leading set with specialist expertise in employment, personal injury, clinical negligence, and regulatory law. Based in Bedford Row, London, we operate nationally across a wide range of sectors.
Old Square Chambers was recently named Chambers of the Year, with members receiving nominations and awards including; Employment Silk of the Year, Personal Injury Silk of the Year, Professional Discipline and Regulatory Silk of the Year, Employment Junior of the Year, Personal Injury Junior of the Year, and Aviation Junior of the Year. Many of our barristers are consistently ranked as leading practitioners in their fields. Others serve as part-time judges or coroners, sit on specialist panels, act as mediators, and contribute to leading practitioner texts.
Our Ethos
We aim to recruit tenants from a small number of carefully selected pupils each year. Chambers has a strong record of retaining pupils as tenants, and we foster a collaborative, supportive environment throughout pupillage and beyond.
We are firmly committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion, and we are proud of our increasingly diverse membership, which continues to grow and strengthen. Chambers actively participates in several initiatives to improve access to the Bar and is committed to ensuring that all recruitment and selection processes are fair, transparent, and inclusive.
Our Work
Our practice is balanced between claimant and defendant (or respondent) work, and includes the protection of individual rights. We act for trade unions, commercial organisations, the NHS, and local and central government.
In employment law, our work spans all areas, including discrimination, collective action, individual rights, restraint of trade, and human rights.
Our professional disciplinary and regulatory practice—particularly in the healthcare sector—is thriving. Members frequently represent high-profile doctors before the General Medical Council and appear in the High Court seeking injunctive relief.
Our personal injury practice covers the full spectrum of litigation, with particular strength in catastrophic injury, disaster, and multi-party claims.
In clinical negligence, we act across all areas of dispute involving the medical, dental, pharmaceutical, and nursing professions.
We also have a significant inquests and inquiries practice. Members have appeared in many of the most high-profile public inquiries and inquests of recent decades, including the Grenfell Inquiry, Paterson Inquiry, Leveson Inquiry, Infected Blood Inquiry, and inquests into the London Bridge and Westminster terrorist attacks. Many of our cases involve the application of European and international jurisprudence.
Structure of Pupillage
Old Square Chambers offers up to two funded pupillages each year.
Each pupil undertakes a non-practising first six and a practising second six, typically with four supervisors over the 12-month period. Pupils will complete three assessments during their pupillage.
A decision regarding tenancy is made in June or July of the pupillage year.
We are committed to ensuring that all recruitment and assessment processes are fair, objective, and compliant with equality legislation.
Financial and Professional Support
Pupils receive generous funding and gain experience across a wide variety of court and paperwork. There are opportunities to work closely with silks on complex and often high-profile cases.
Our pupillage award (for pupils commencing in October 2027) is £70,000, which includes guaranteed minimum earnings of £10,000 during the practising six months (paid at the conclusion of that period).
A drawdown facility of up to £20,000 is available for the Bar Training Course (BTC) upon acceptance of an offer of pupillage, subject to references.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Chambers is committed to improving access to the Bar and promoting diversity and social mobility within the profession. Our initiatives include:
- Funded and part-funded mini-pupillage scheme for students (minimum second-year undergraduate) with a demonstrable interest in our practice areas.
- Sponsorship of university societies, prizes, and awards linked to our areas of expertise.
- Annual participation in the Bar Council’s Black Intern Scheme.
- Gold partnership with Support Through Court, supporting both access to justice and mentoring for aspiring barristers.
- Mentoring and outreach through Inns of Court schemes, social mobility programmes, and school visits.
- Competitive pupillage grants and drawdown facilities to support students undertaking the BTC.
Beyond access initiatives, we maintain a broader commitment to social responsibility and wellbeing, including:
- A dedicated Equality, Diversity, and Wellbeing Committee.
- An open mentoring scheme for all members, regardless of seniority.
- Accreditation as a London Living Wage Employer, extended to all subcontractors.
- Trained mental health first aiders among both staff and members.
- Comprehensive parental leave and wellbeing policies.
- Peer support groups for members with health or caring responsibilities.
- Provision of sustainably sourced feminine care products, with matched donations to those in need.
- Active pro bono participation through Advocate.
- Ongoing initiatives to reduce our environmental impact and improve sustainability.
AI Policy
We ask that applicants submit work that reflects their own abilities. If you have used any artificial intelligence (AI) tools in preparing your application, please be open about this and briefly explain how they were used (there is a question regarding this in the application form; the word limit is 200 words). Using such tools appropriately will not disadvantage you. However, failing to disclose their use may be treated as dishonesty, which could affect your application and may need to be reported to your Inn and/or the BSB. We place great importance on honesty and transparency.
How to Apply
Applications for pupillage open between 5 and 22 January 2026 via the Pupillage Gateway.
To apply, search for Old Square Chambers’ vacancy and select “Apply for this pupillage.”
Candidates will be asked to respond to the following questions from Chambers:
- Why do you wish to become a barrister? (350 words)
- What areas of practice are you interested in and why? (350 words)
- Why do you believe you will make a good barrister? (350 words)
- Why are you applying to Old Square Chambers specifically? (350 words)
- Tell us about an appellate decision in one of our practice areas that you disagree with and why. (350 words)
- If you have used any artificial intelligence (AI) tools in preparing your application, please be open about this and briefly explain how they were used. (200 words)
