Pupillage Vacancy Information
About Authorised Education and Training Organisation
St Mary’s is nationally recognised as a leading set specialising in all aspects of Family Law. Our Chambers, is well known for its friendly and welcoming reputation and the excellent quality of our barristers. Our members are instructed at all levels of the Family Court including the most complex financial remedy cases and private and public law children cases. St Mary’s have had a number of our tenants appointed to the judiciary in recent years.
Our Chambers is thriving, and we are looking for the best candidates as pupils to join our ranks.
To satisfy the significant growth in our work, St Mary’s is aiming to recruit at least one pupil to commence in April 2026 with the potential to recruit a second pupil. A reserve list of candidates will be made where the quality of candidates justifies it.
Structure of Pupillage
Pupils will be in Court throughout their pupillage. You will be supported and mentored by members of Chambers and benefit from our pro-active support of your professional development. All pupils will have three separate supervisors over the twelve month period to seek to allow pupils to see a variety of work in each of the four months they are with the supervisors. Alongside a pupil supervisor you will be allocated a more junior buddy who will offer informal support, when needed. We expect pupils to have very busy practices in their 2nd Six starting at three days in court each week progressing to 5 days each week during 2nd Six.
Financial and Other Support Available
Chambers offers an award of £30,000 for Pupillage consisting of £12,000 in the first six months and guaranteed earnings of £18,000 in second six. Pupils in their 2nd Six earn in excess of £25,000 on average and our first year tenants earn in excess of £65,000 on average. Nil expenses are charged on second six pupil receipts, which means all receipts during the six months are the pupil’s exclusively.
Whilst we expect high standards throughout pupillage, all offers of pupillage are made with the intention that the pupil will become a tenant on successfully completing pupillage. St Mary’s has a very high retention rate for its pupils in recent years, with no pupil in over 10 years who has been on their feet not being accepted as a tenant.
Who should apply?
We are looking for the very best candidates, especially those prepared to make a commitment to a career on the Midland Circuit and in a specialist family set.
The minimum degree requirement is a 2.2. The minimum BPTC requirement Competent. We have chosen those requirements to seek to offer pupillage to as wide a spectrum of candidates as possible. Chambers welcomes applications from candidates who have not completed their degree, GDL or BPTC studies. Pupillage will be offered to candidates in these circumstances on the condition that they meet these minimum requirements and have obtained the final grade prior to commencing pupillage. Our marking criteria for pupillage applications seeks to take into account when applicants have not yet completed these requirements.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion
We recognise the further strides the Bar needs to take in becoming a more diverse profession. St Mary’s takes its commitment to equality and diversity very seriously. Chambers operates an equal opportunities recruitment policy and encourages applications from candidates from all backgrounds regardless of age, gender, race, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marital status, religion or disability. We especially welcome applications from those presently under-represented within the profession and we apply an equal opportunities tie breaker under the Equality Act 2010 where two candidates of equal merit are scored equally. We never recruit less qualified candidates over more qualified candidates.
How to Apply
Aspiring barristers are invited to apply to chambers between 2 January 2025 and 6 February 2025 using the Pupillage Gateway application system to search for the relevant Pupillage Vacancy and selecting ‘Apply for this pupillage’.
First round interviews will take place on 22 March 2025 and the final round interview will take place on 26 April 2025. The interviews will take place in person. It is important you note these dates at this point so that you are available for interview on those dates if you get through the initial paper application stage.
In addition to the standardised Bar Council questionnaire, candidates will be asked to respond to the following questions from Chambers:
- Why do you want to be a barrister at St Mary’s Chambers a Family Law Chambers in the East Midlands? 250 words
- We search for excellence when recruiting pupils. Without referring to your academic or legal experience, why do you believe you would be an excellent candidate for pupillage? 300 words
- Select a sport that is not currently in the Olympics. Persuade us why it should be admitted into the Olympics. 500 words
- Please confirm your overall degree classification, your GDL classification (if appropriate) and your BPC classification if complete. Otherwise, please confirm when these will be complete, grades to date and predicted grades where possible. 250 words
