Selborne Chambers - True Picture

Selborne Chambers pupillage review 2024

The Chambers

Walking through the City of London is an awful lot like flipping through the pages of a history textbook, given the countless historic buildings and monuments that are dotted across the square mile. The walk to Selborne Chambers on Essex Street is no different, but don’t let that fool you into making any antiquated presumptions about this set. Selborne has earned a strong reputation for its commercial-chancery practices while being a reasonably young, “modern and approachable” chambers. In fact, as a pupil summarised, “we’re a set that’s been around for just over 20 years, and with that comes a sense that everyone is a little bit of an upstart maverick!” As many do in their formative teens and twenties, Selborne has enjoyed plenty of growth since its foundation in 2002. Senior clerk Paul Bunting, who’s been with Selborne from the beginning, explains how “we did a lot of property work back when we first started, but chambers has gone down the commercial route over the years.” It’s a reputation that our colleagues at Chambers UK Bar can certainly attest to, as the set is ranked in real estate litigation and commercial chancery, the latter of which is also recognised by the Chambers Global guide.

“We’re working on getting more into the international market by participating in some of the bigger conferences.”

Nowadays, property and commercial are Selborne’s bread and butter, but its other core areas include private client, company, insolvency and professional negligence. “Our trust and probate sides are growing so quickly right now,” Bunting shares. “The aim is to try and raise our profile in those areas where we do a lot of work. In fact, we’re off to Budapest for a trusts conference in March.” This is just the beginning of the set’s expansion into other jurisdictions. As Bunting emphasises, “we’re working on getting more into the international market by participating in some of the bigger conferences. We hope to get onto bigger, better work.” Selborne’s members have already been working on cases in Antigua, Doha and the British Virgin Islands, and the team will be off to the BVI and Cayman Islands again this year.

Bunting also tells us how COVID has meant that the set “has never been busier.” For instance, Nicholas Trompeter KC was instructed by London Trocadero on a High Court claim against its tenant, Picturehouse Cinemas, relating to commercial rent liabilities during the pandemic. Meanwhile, on the commercial chancery side, Stuart Hornett is leading a claim against the ex-chairman of BHS Group in proceedings relating to wrongful trading and breaches of fiduciary duty. However, whatever the matter, a pupil was pleased to say that “barristers here will never turn around and say something is out of their specialism so they don’t feel competent enough to handle it. I’ve been working on a case that engages issues of employment law which I’ve never come across before – it’s the beauty of the work.”

“I did a skeleton in my first seat and my supervisor used a lot of it!”

The Pupillage Experience

Pupils at Selborne usually complete four three-month seats, each with a different supervisor. According to William McCormick KC, head of pupillage, “this enables pupils to get a broader exposure to the manner in which individual barristers do their job. Everyone does it slightly differently, and having four supervisors provides a better overview of all the work we do.” Pupils can expect to start their first six with some historic work, though a junior tenant assured that “it’s not for long, and you get onto live work quite quickly. I did a skeleton in my first seat and my supervisor used a lot of it!” Members of chambers often invite first six pupils to court to observe cases which, for this interviewee, “was a nice introduction to life at the set. Everyone was focused on emphasising how it’s a learning process more than anything.”

Pupils undertake written work for different members of chambers throughout pupillage, which are assessed with feedback. “It can be written or oral,” a junior tenant shared, “but it’s always very detailed, structured and understanding.” In some cases, as McCormick tells us, “supervisors who have previously supervised will give out exercises which have been done by past pupils. It gives some degree of consistency as they can compare a present pupil’s performance with others who may or may not have been taken on.” Furthermore, while supervisors may differ from year to year, the barristers assigning written work typically stay the same. “We trust each other’s judgement,” McCormick elaborates. “If these people say a pupil’s work is good enough, other members will think, ‘if you’re good enough for them, you’re good enough for me.’” Continuous feedback throughout pupillage meant that a junior tenant “had a fairly good idea that it was going well by July,” when tenancy decisions are made using this exact feedback. 

“I went to ten different hearings over the last ten days.”

An advocacy exercise at the end of the first six determines whether a pupil is ready to get on their feet during their practising second six. All our interviewees spoke fondly about this, and Bunting notes how “it has to be so exciting for our pupils. They hit the ground running and away they go.” One beaming pupil explained how “I went to ten different hearings over the last ten days. It’s a truly practical pupillage, and you’re sent to courts up and down the country. Once you’ve coped with one stroppy judge in a county court somewhere, you learn how to deal with them.” In particular, there’s plenty of property work on the junior end, though pupils can also get exposure to some commercial matters. As a junior tenant explained, “it was a lot of smaller property cases to start with, but I’ve also done some company hearings in county courts and in the high court. Most of them are short hearings where you really have to think on your feet.”

Though pupils may still do work for other members of chambers during this time, they can rely on their supervisors for support while taking on cases in their own right. As a pupil relayed, “I’ve asked my supervisor about tactics in cases, as well as more practical questions about billing and managing fees.” However, a WhatsApp mentoring group has been recently established for pupils and juniors to reach out to other members of chambers for all sorts of questions that may pop up: “they wanted to make sure juniors had a forum where they could reach out to people even while many are still working from home post-COVID. People are happy to respond or jump on a call with you.”

More generally, sources described the culture as welcoming and forward-thinking. As a pupil summarised, “although we do have our traditions, we’re not stuffy. There’s a sense that people are friends outside of work here.” We heard that drinks at the pub across the road are common in the summer, and members regularly invite each other for informal lunches and dinners. Regular social scheduling includes an annual chambers dinner and monthly chambers lunch, the latter of which includes quite the spread of “sushi, sandwiches, and so on. They really go all out on it.” Those who attend can chat with their colleagues and bounce ideas off each other, and our greener interviewees appreciated the lack of hierarchy at such events. “Although there’s respect and reverence for the silks – as there should be – there’s no sense that you can’t talk to them,” said a pupil. A junior tenant expressed a similar sentiment, adding how “they’ve been supportive in ensuring I get a nice work-life balance. I was very much 9 to 6 during pupillage, and people would tell me to go home if they saw I was staying late.”

“We also ask a question about candidates’ favourite fictional lawyer. Elle Woods has come up, and others have mentioned characters from Suits, Dickens and Dostoyevsky.”

The Application Process

Selborne’s application starts on the Gateway, with standard questions to get to know applicants’ interests in the set. However, as McCormick explains, “we also ask a question about candidates’ favourite fictional lawyer. Elle Woods has come up, and others have mentioned characters from Suits, Dickens and Dostoyevsky. It allows applicants to show some elements of advocacy when explaining their reasoning.” Two rounds of interviews follow an initial sift of applications, before the recruitment committee picks two final candidates for pupillage. “We only offer two pupillages each time because we’re confident that we can take on a minimum of two tenants a year, but we don’t have fixed numbers for interviews.” says McCormick, “Last year, we interviewed around one in six applicants.”

At both rounds of interviews, a panel of at least three members of chambers asks a range of competency questions. McCormick offers an example: “‘What do you think you’ll like least about being a barrister?’ That gets them to demonstrate they’ve thought about the realities of the job and are ready for the pitfalls.” Candidates also receive a problem about 30 minutes before each interview, so they can look over the issue and present their thoughts to the panel. “We’re not interested in their legal knowledge, but how they solve the problem and approach the argument,” McCormick advises. “It tests their analytical and advocacy skills, and how they deal with challenges from the panel.” One pupil suggested that interviewees should “be absolutely laser-focused and don’t get flustered by the questions. Think of it like a conversation and not a performance. After all, that’s what it’s like when you’re talking to a judge in court.”

Selborne is introducing an open lunch day at the second interview, so prospective pupils can visit chambers to talk to junior tenants and current pupils about what life is really like at the set. However, a junior tenant shared how “I felt like I had a good chance to chat to the barristers when I interviewed. Everyone was warm and welcoming.” To somewhat offset the naturally daunting nature of an interview, the set ensures that its panel is largely made up of more junior barristers. “They know what we’re about but will be more likely to relate to the candidates,” says McCormick, and an insider who’d been through the process agreed, adding, “it very much felt like they wanted me to do well.” What’s more, Selborne is working on bolstering diversity through its recruitment process, so a woman and a barrister from an ethnic minority will always be part of the panel. So, McCormick’s final piece of advice is to “make the application and don’t be daunted by the process. A career at the bar is brilliant and very rewarding, so you should give it your best shot if it’s what you want to do.”