Pupillage Vacancy Information
About Authorised Education and Training Organisation
The 36 Group is a leading set of Chambers with over 140 barristers, including 12 King’s Counsel and many judicial appointees, arbitrators and authors of academic texts. We pride ourselves on excellence throughout Chambers. Based in London, our work is geographically widespread both domestically and globally, including many international clients. The 36 Group is an international multi-specialist set, with barristers appearing before all levels of court.
We operate as four distinct Practice Groups under the umbrella of a shared management structure, shared constitution and policies, shared premises, and a shared ethos. Each of the Practice Groups has its own Head of Team, Practice Manager and clerks. All of our pupillages are specialist pupillages in one of the four Practice Groups. Candidates may apply for more than one specialist pupillage at The 36 Group, each of which is advertised separately and has a discrete questionnaire relevant to that Practice Group.
Our comprehensive Pupillage Policy governs the pupillage process from recruitment of pupils to tenancy and reflects our commitment as a Chambers to the fair recruitment of pupils and to ensuring that our pupils receive the best training and support.
Chambers operates from impressive, well-equipped, modern premises at 4 Field Court in Gray’s Inn, reflecting our forward-looking approach and facilitating the ongoing development of our work.
Our Ethos
We want Chambers to be a welcoming place to be, and for our pupils to want to stay with us. At The 36 Group we value the enormous variety of individuals who make up Chambers, members, and staff alike. Many members of Chambers have not had easy routes to the Bar, and several have faced additional hurdles, whether those are to do with health, disability, ethnicity, neurodiversity, sexuality, financial or family circumstances or some other factor. In our view, it is fundamental to today’s Bar, the future of the Bar and the future of Chambers that the Bar is more accessible and more diverse. Not only getting to the Bar but also the highest levels of achievement in a legal career.
We pride ourselves on being a welcoming, sociable, diverse and supportive team of barristers and staff members. Pupils and junior members of chambers are encouraged to seek advice and support from more senior members of the team, and we have regular opportunities to socialise together and with professional clients in addition to more formal networking opportunities.
Pupil development and wellbeing are hugely important to us and the pupil will be nurtured and supported to reach their full potential throughout their pupillage and beyond. We have a long history of recruiting from pupils since we first introduced funded pupillages in 1982, and our pupillages are offered in the expectation that our pupils will become tenants.
We have always regarded our pupils and our junior tenants as our future and we seek to invest our time and resources to ensure that they develop and achieve their potential as fully as possible.
We aim to develop the individuality of our pupils, and to encourage and allow their specific talents and personalities to shine. Pupil Supervisors will work closely with their pupils to develop an understanding not only of their abilities and aspirations, but also of their lives outside the Bar, so that they can ensure pupillage training takes place in a way which is supportive of and adapted to individual needs.
36 Crime
36 Crime is a practice group within the 36 Group. There are 51 barristers in 36 Crime, including four KCs. Members of 36 Crime undertake work involving a wide range of criminal offences including homicide, serious organised crime, terrorism, financial crime, serious sexual offences, cybercrime, extradition, consumer law offences, and regulatory offences.
Members of 36 Crime are regularly involved in high profile cases. We are instructed by specialist units including the Complex Casework Unit, the Serious Fraud Office, the Health and Safety Executive, the CPS London Homicide Unit, and the International Justice and Organised Crime Division. 36 Crime also has a long history of involvement in cases at International Criminal Tribunals and at the International Criminal Court. The current head of the Criminal Bar Association is head of 36 Crime.
36 Crime undertakes both prosecution and defence work. Members work predominantly in the Midlands, London, and Thames Valley.
Several members of 36 Crime sit as Recorders in the Crown Court or as judges in other tribunals. Former members have gone on to become full-time judges of the International Criminal Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, and the Crown Court. We have a strong record of supporting both male and female members in becoming King’s Counsel and/or judges. In the last two years, three members of chambers (one female and two male) who had taken silk in chambers became Crown Court judges.
We always offer pupillage in the hope and expectation that it will lead to tenancy. Accordingly, we aim to provide the best possible training and support to our pupils. Pupil development and wellbeing are very important to us and we aim to do everything we can to challenge, encourage, and assist pupils to enable them to achieve their full potential.
A structured training programme is provided for pupils, which includes written and oral advocacy training. Appraisals take place at regular intervals during the pupillage. Pupils are encouraged to attend 36 Crime internal training events and external seminars and are also given the opportunity to contribute work to the 36 Crime Newsletter.
Pupils and tenants in the early years of practice at 36 Crime cover the full range of criminal work we do, appropriate to their level of experience. However, as members progress in their careers they are encouraged and supported to develop expertise in specific areas. This support is provided partly by members who already have experience in those areas and partly by the 36 Crime practice manager, with the assistance of the clerks.
In line with our junior tenants, we expect our pupils to spend little time in the Magistrates’ Court and to regularly be conducted their own work in the Crown Court.
We are a welcoming, friendly, diverse, and supportive team of barristers and staff members. Pupils and junior members of chambers are encouraged to seek advice and support from more senior members of the team.
Structure of Pupillage
Pupils have two core pupil supervisors from 36 Crime, one for each six-month period of the pupillage. We aim to allocate pupil supervisors with different specialist areas of practice in order to provide a broad experience. Pupils also benefit from the multi-disciplinary environment of the 36 Group and have the opportunity to gain experience in other areas of law. Pupils spend most of the time in the crime team with the core pupil supervisors but will spend some time in another team within chambers. Our experience is that pupils find this exposure to other areas of law both interesting and beneficial to their development.
Pupils will have a multiplicity of opportunities, not only to observe cases and complete written work, but also to carry out training exercises, participate in webinars and podcasts, assist with the writing of books and articles, and engage in other projects and events as they arise. Pupils have regular appraisals where pupils are also encouraged to give feedback and have input into how their pupillage training evolves. They are given written feedback on pieces of set work.
Throughout pupillage, in addition to Pupil Supervisors, pupils will have the support of a Pupillage Officer and Head of Team for their Practice Group, and a ‘Chambers Buddy’ who is not part of the tenancy recruitment process. Pupils are encouraged to meet other members of chambers and to engage in networking and social events, and to become part of the life of Chambers. There are rooms where pupils can work in chambers, but most members of chambers do not keep their own room in chambers and pupils are not generally expected to be present in chambers when not in court or in conference.
Financial and Other Support Available
The pupillage award of £50,000 comprises a fixed award of £35,000 and guaranteed earnings during second six of £15,000. Pupils will receive their award in 12 equal instalments.
The award is intended to cover pupils’ ordinary travel and other out of pocket expenses. Additional travel or other out of pocket expenses may be paid at Chambers’ discretion in circumstances where pupils are incurring expenses which are out of the ordinary, whether because of the work being undertaken by them or by reason of their own circumstances, whether for reasons of disability or some other reason.
Pupils are able to make a request for up to £10,000 of the grant component to be paid to them during the 12 months prior to pupillage commencing. If such a request is made and approved the pupil enters into a separate contract in relation to this which specifies the terms on which payment is made. The amount of the early drawdown is ordinarily paid in 12 equal instalments from a date 12 months prior to pupillage commencing unless otherwise agreed by the finance committee. The balance will be paid in 12 equal instalments during pupillage.
Pupils are provided with a chambers email address and with access to web-based legal research tools at Chambers’ expense during pupillage.
Pupils will be supported by a team including their supervisors, pupillage officer, Head of Practice Group, Head of Training, clerks, a chambers ‘buddy’ and the Head of Pupillage. Pupil supervisors will discuss with their pupil whether they have any particular needs or responsibilities which would be likely to mean the pupil needs additional support, adjustment to the training provided, or greater flexibility of working for the pupil, for example health needs or caring responsibilities. The pupil and supervisor will discuss and agree how the pupil’s particular needs and circumstances can best be met.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion
We aim to make our pupillage application process as rigorous and fair as possible, and to encourage the widest diversity of exceptional applicants including those currently based overseas. Applications are welcome from all highly talented candidates regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, health, neurodiversity or family / financial or other personal circumstances. Our members are drawn from all parts of society and we endeavour to reflect this in our pupillage recruitment process. Our pupillage policy provides that no candidate will be interviewed by a single gender panel or by an exclusively white panel, save in exceptional circumstances.
We acknowledge that currently only the ground floor of our building at 4 Field Court is wheelchair accessible, with toilet facilities being accessible for some, but not all, wheelchairs. Two downstairs conference rooms where some interviews will take place are wheelchair accessible. For interview purposes more accessible toilet facilities are available nearby at Gray’s Inn. During pupillage, pupils are not generally expected to undertake their pupillage from Chambers’ premises when not in court or in conference, and a pupil’s training will be adapted to meet their individual needs, whether related to health or disability or other factors.
Any applicant who would be assisted by an adjustment to the process by reason of disability, neurodiversity, health needs or other personal circumstances is invited to contact the Head of Pupillage in confidence in order to discuss their particular needs and so as to enable any appropriate adjustments to be made. This does not form part of candidate assessment, and the Head of Pupillage is not responsible for pupil selection, thus enabling personal information which does not need to be disclosed to persons marking the application or an interview panel to be kept confidential.
Chambers operates a guaranteed interview scheme for the highest scoring candidates who meet the threshold for interview and who have a disability within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010. Where a candidate sends an email to the Head of Pupillage at MAllman@36family.co.uk self declaring a disability and confirming that they are eligible for the guaranteed interview scheme, their application will be assessed as to whether they meet the threshold for interview under the scheme. While candidates will not be asked to provide evidence of their disability, they should satisfy themselves as to whether they have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010 and in cases of doubt should check the position by reference to the Act. Candidates may find the guidance at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-guidance/disability-equality-act-2010-guidance-on-matters-to-be-taken-into-account-in-determining-questions-relating-to-the-definition-of-disability-html helpful.
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’..
This includes candidates with the benefit of a waiver enabling them to undertake less than 12 months' pupillage. Candidates with a waiver will undertake the same fair recruitment exercise as all other candidates. A candidate with a waiver may choose whether to accept the 12 month pupillage on offer, or whether to request a reduced period of pupillage. The length of any pupillage offered to a candidate with the benefit of a waiver who requests a reduced pupillage will be at Chambers' discretion, irrespective of the period of waiver.
In the event of Chambers identifying an additional potential vacancy for a pupil, with or without the benefit of a waiver, offers will only be made to those who have completed this application process and who have been assessed against our recruitment criteria as meeting the standard for an offer of pupillage to be made.
Please ensure you select the relevant pupillage. There are 4 separate recruitment exercises being undertaken by The 36 Group in this recruitment round. This is the vacancy for 36 Crime for a 2025 start.
Candidates are assessed against the behavioural indicators for the specialist pupillage for which they have applied (see uploaded documents). The whole of the application form is assessed against those criteria, where they are assessed at application form stage, and not merely the bespoke questions.
Candidates will be asked to respond to the following questions from Chambers:
1. Should defendants on trial for committing crimes motivated by protests (Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion, etc) be allowed to explain to the jury why they were protesting? (300 words)
2. Why do you want to practise in criminal law? How have you demonstrated your commitment to this area of law? (300 words)
3. Please give an example of a time when you used your interpersonal skills in difficult circumstances. What was the situation, what did you want to achieve, what did you do, and what was the outcome? (200 words maximum)
4. Please give an example of a time when you had to carry out a challenging task under pressure. What was the situation, what did you want to achieve, what did you do, and what was the outcome? (200 words maximum)
5. If you have faced and overcome adversity in relation to education, health, or other personal circumstances in seeking a career at the Bar, and you believe this ought to be considered in assessing your application, please explain what challenge you have faced and what you have done to overcome it. (200 words maximum) - This question is optional. It is intended to provide an opportunity for applicants who have overcome adversity to demonstrate this. Applicants are not required to answer this question if they feel it does not apply to them or if they would prefer not to. Answers to this question will not be marked for any criterion other than overcoming adversity.
