Cobden House Chambers is delighted to announce that it is now recruiting for 5 fully funded 12 month pupillages in the Criminal, Personal Injury, Family, Business and Property and Housing Departments.

The planned pupillage start date is 4th October 2021 for all 5 of the pupillages, but Chambers will consider a flexible starting date to accommodate successful candidates according to their personal circumstances.

Please note that it is Chambers’ policy to offer pupillage with a view to tenancy.

Chambers is committed to providing a high quality pupillage experience tailored to the needs of individual pupils and practice areas. Our pupillage program is focused on a competency based assessment framework to ensure that every pupil has the skills necessary to undertake their own work and to develop their own practice in one of the Northern Circuit’s leading multi-disciplinary sets.

The Pupillages

Criminal

The Criminal Department's principal areas of practice lie in the Crown Court, where members both prosecute and defend in all types of cases up to and including the most serious and high-profile of criminal trials. There is no geographical boundary, but most of the department's work lies within the Northern Circuit.

Individual members additionally specialise in appellate, inquest and regulatory work.

The department also accepts and undertakes both private and publicly-funded criminal and road traffic work in the magistrates' courts.

As a department, we believe that maintaining an ethos of high quality service and professionalism is entirely compatible with the preservation of a friendly and approachable working atmosphere.

The criminal pupillage will be geared to providing the successful candidate with training in and experience of all aspects of criminal practice, with a view to establishing a strong foundation for a successful career at the criminal bar.

Personal Injury

Owing to a continuing growth and success of the department, we have decided to offer a dedicated pupillage opportunity in Personal Injury in our 2021 recruitment process.

The Personal Injury pupillage will cover all aspects of personal injury from the most modest claims involving the small claims track and MOJ portal through to the Fast track and Multi-track, including an introduction to catastrophic injury claims.

Within the team we have practitioners who deal with the full spectrum of personal injury and there will also be opportunities to gain experience in inquest work and clinical negligence work.

We ensure that the individual sees a broad range of work and styles of advocacy both written and oral.

Within the first six months the chosen individual will be asked to draft pleadings and advices as exercises to allow us monitor progress.

There will be experience gained from attendance at conferences and consultations with solicitors, lay clients, and experts.

In the second six months the individual will be able to work as an advocate but will be expected to follow their Pupil Supervisor or another member of chambers on any days or half days when not booked in their own right.

The aim of the pupillage is to provide full and appropriate training for the expected demands of commencing practice on the Northern Circuit and beyond.

Family

The Family Department works across all areas of family law, including principally children law work and financial remedy, but also domestic violence applications, forced marriage and female genital mutilation protection applications. The team is instructed by Solicitors, Local Authorities, Children’s Guardians and Police Forces in relation to this work.

Public law care cases are a particular strength of the department but we aim to give the successful candidate a broad grounding in all areas, and they will of course be given every opportunity and support to develop their practice in their preferred field of work. In public law care cases we are instructed to represent a broad and balanced mix of parents, Local Authorities and Guardians.

In private law children’s matters we accept both publicly funded and private cases, representing parents and children.

We also have a significant practice in financial remedy cases, and also TOLATA and Schedule 1 cases.

The family team has grown in recent years, reflecting a burgeoning reputation amongst solicitors, and we seek a pupil who can assist with the caseload we now have.

The department strives to offer the highest standards of professionalism to solicitors whilst maintaining a friendly and approachable manner. Cobden House Chambers prides itself on its collective and constant support for each other, which fits with the friendly reputation Chambers enjoys amongst both the Bar and Solicitors.

Members of the department include former solicitors and mature entrants to the Bar as we firmly believe that a broad range of experience significantly strengthens what we as a team can offer to solicitors.

Business and Property

Cobden House Chambers is delighted to announce that it is now recruiting for a fully funded 12 month pupillage in our Business and Property Department.

The Business and Property Department pupillage may or may not involve Housing Work depending upon the interests of the successful candidate and the work available.

The Business and Property Department’s members cover a broad range of traditional Chancery and commercial work although the Department as a whole has a strong reputation for Real Property work.

Individual members specialise in fields as diverse as Trusts, Commercial Leases, Probate, Capital Taxation and Defamation.

A firm grounding in Real Property Law is essential. An interest in either Trust Law or Company Law would be an advantage, although not essential.

The Housing Department’s members act for both landlords and tenants in social and private sector housing.

The Business and Property Department pupillage will be structured to ensure that the successful candidate gains a firm grounding in both written work and advocacy, in preparation for taking on their own work during Second Six.

Housing

Cobden House Chambers is delighted to announce that it is now recruiting for a fully funded 12 month pupillage in our Housing Department.

The Housing Department has a close relationship with our Business and Property Department and the successful candidate will have the opportunity to gain experience across a wide range of practice areas.

Members of the Housing Department undertake work across the full spectrum of residential landlord and tenant matters in both the public and private sectors. This encompasses matters as diverse as anti-social behaviour, homelessness, right to buy disputes, succession, housing standards enforcement and advisory work for local authorities and social housing providers.

The Business and Property Department’s members cover a broad range of traditional Chancery and commercial work although the Department as a whole has a strong reputation for Real Property work. The Department’s work includes adverse possession, boundaries, easements, highways, utilities, trusts of land and property related professional negligence claims.

A firm grounding in Real Property Law is essential. An interest in, or experience of the social housing sector would be an advantage but is not essential.

The Housing Department pupillage will be structured to ensure that the successful candidate gains a firm grounding in both written work and advocacy, in preparation for taking on their own work during Second Six.

Pupillage Award

Each pupil receives a total award of £25,000 comprising £9,000 during the First Six and Guaranteed Earnings of £16,000 during the Second Six.

Application

Application is by Chambers’ own Application Form.

All applications are treated in the strictest confidence and are subject to Cobden House Chambers’ Privacy Policy which can be found here:

www.cobden.co.uk/privacy_policy/

To download the Application Form in either word of pdf, please use the following links:

pupillage_application_form_may_2021.pdf

pupillage_application_form_may_2021.docx

If you are unable to access the above links or require a paper copy of the Application Form, please contact Chambers by telephone, post or email requesting a copy and giving a full postal address within the United Kingdom to which it can be posted.

Please read the Application Form carefully before completing it. It is essential that you clearly mark which ONE of the 5 pupillages you wish to apply for on the front page of the form.

PLEASE NOTE THAT BECAUSE OF THE INTERVIEW TIMETABLE WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT APPLICATIONS FOR MORE THAN ONE PUPILLAGE ON THIS OCCASION.

Our preferred method of submission is by email to pupillage@cobden.co.uk

If you wish to post your completed application form please mark your envelope ‘Pupillage Application’.

Timetable

The Closing Date for applications is 12.00 noon on 28th June 2021

First Round interviews will be held on Saturday 17th July 2021.

The Second Round interviews will be held on Friday 23rd July 2021.

Successful candidates will be notified shortly after the Second Round interviews.

Please note, the interview timetable may have to be adjusted to accommodate any Covid-19 restrictions that remain in force at the relevant time.

Commencement

The planned pupillage start date is 4th October 2021 for all 5 of the pupillages, but Chambers will consider a flexible starting date to accommodate successful candidates according to their personal circumstances.

COBDEN HOUSE CHAMBERS IS COMMITTED TO EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

We welcome applications from ANY suitably qualified candidate irrespective of gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or social background. All applications are anonymised prior to assessment and our recruitment process is conducted in accordance with the Bar Council guidelines.