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.
36 Family
36 Family is the specialist family practice team within The 36 Group. Within the team, many members specialise further, practising in one or more areas including;
- Family finance
- Public law children (care)
- Private law children
- International family law
- Family creation
- Civil aspects of family law including trusts of land and Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 claims
- Dispute resolution
Over the last decade, 36 Family has established itself as one of the leading family law teams in London and nationally, with notable practitioners in all areas of family law. Much of our work also has an international dimension, which is reflected in many of the high-profile cases that our barristers are instructed in. We have operations in Singapore and Cyprus, with strong connections with solicitors in several other countries and an active international family law sub-group including members who are fellows of the IAFL.
We have been at the cutting edge of the development of family law in several areas, with several important cases in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in recent years. We have five King’s Counsel in the family team, a number of judicial appointees and arbitrators and authors of key academic texts. We have excellent relationships with a wide, national base of instructing solicitors, including the most highly regarded specialist family departments in the country.
Many of the members of our team are ranked in the Legal 500 and Chambers UK directories for family law and the team has been nominated for and won a number of awards in recent years.
We are also highly regarded for our work in non-court dispute resolution, with our team including some of the country’s leading family arbitrators and neutral evaluators. Where possible, we will endeavour to give our pupils experience of attending mediations, arbitrations, and early neutral evaluations. Our modern high spec facilities include a suite of rooms for all forms of ADR to take place in chambers, or remotely.
Further information about 36 Family can be found here: 36group.co.uk/family/
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 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.
Structure of Pupillage
Pupils will have at least 2 Pupil Supervisors during pupillage, and will spend time shadowing a number of other members of chambers, with the opportunity to spent up to 2 weeks shadowing in a different Practice Group.
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.
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.
Pupillage with 36 Family will provide training and experience in the full range of family law, including divorce, financial remedies, ToLATA and Schedule 1 cases, disputes over children (public and private law), adoption, relocation, abduction, surrogacy and donor-conceived children, gender identity and the international aspects of practice in all those areas.
Pupillage at 36 Family includes an intensive training programme, and the opportunity to write or to contribute to legal publications, blogs, seminars, webinars and other networking events.
Although pupils and very junior tenants initially practise across the whole range of family law, we encourage specialisation into one or two of the above sub-groups within a few years.
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 at MAllman@36family.co.uk 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. Whilst 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. In cases of doubt candidates 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. There are two separate recruitment exercises for 36 Family - one for a 2025 start and one for a 2026 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 for the family pupillages will be asked to respond to the following questions from Chambers:
1. Interpersonal skills (200 words)
Please give an example of a time when you attempted to persuade someone to change their mind about something that they believed, or about something that they were about to carry out. Describe the situation and how you navigated it. How successful were your endeavours?
2. Commitment and motivation (200 words)
Why do you want to be a family law barrister? Please give any examples of your commitment to, and interest in, family law.
3. Working under pressure / resilience (200 words)
Provide an example of a time where you have been in a situation that did not go to plan (do not use the same situation as in Q1 above). How did you deal with this? Was your response effective? Is there anything you would have done differently?
4. Written communication and advocacy & analytical skills (500 words)
All financial remedy proceedings should be held in private with no admittance to the general public, court reporters, or bloggers. Discuss.
5. Overcoming adversity (200 words)
(Optional) If you have faced adversity or obstacles in your journey to the Bar so far, which you believe ought to be considered in the overall assessment of your application, please use this opportunity to tell us about the nature of the challenge that you have faced, as well as any steps that you have taken to overcome it.
