Recruitment

Pupillage

Chambers intends to offer up to 2 twelve-month pupillages to commence in October 2009, and seeks pupils who are ambitious and determined, with exceptional intellectual ability (minimum 2:1 or equivalent) and commonsense.

Chambers acts for a wide range of institutional and private clients in this and other jurisdictions. Our main areas of practice are:

Commercial disputes: - banking; commercial contracts; financial services; insurance; guarantees; partnership; professional negligence.
Company: - directors' duties and disqualification; insolvency; shareholders' disputes.
Property: - commercial, residential and agricultural landlord and tenant; covenants; conveyancing disputes and other contractual issues; easements; equitable interests; mortgages and charges; planning; registered land; options.
Chancery: - bankruptcy; fraud, tracing and associated interlocutory remedies; intellectual property; trusts and equitable obligations and remedies; probate and wills.

A pupil in Chambers will undertake a structured pupillage, encompassing all 4 principal practice areas. It is envisaged that each pupil will have 3-4 pupil supervisors, and will therefore be exposed to differing approaches to work and life at the Bar. In their time in Chambers, pupils will be expected to prepare fully for and attend conferences and hearings with their pupil supervisors, produce written pleadings and opinions, and undertake legal research, often under considerable pressure of time.

In addition to working with your pupil supervisor, pupils can expect to spend time with other members of Chambers before many courts and tribunals; our tenants practise at all levels, from the County Court to the House of Lords, as well as appearing in or presiding over mediations or arbitrations. Pupillage at Selborne Chambers will equip our pupils with the necessary skills and awareness to face confidently the various challenges in the early days of tenancy.

Unlike in many commercial sets, our pupils can expect regular court appearances and instructions in their own right during the second six months of pupillage. These will include small claims and fast track trials, possession hearings, case management conferences, interim applications and appeals, as well as advisory and drafting work. Pupil supervisors will ensure that pupils are fully supported whilst undertaking their own work and Chambers will provide additional advocacy training to that offered by the Inns.

It is Chambers' intention to recruit a junior tenant annually, ideally from its pupils. In the unlikely event that the conduct or standard of work produced by a pupil is unsatisfactory, pupillage will be determinable after 6 months.