Application Details

You’ll be assigned to one pupil supervisor for each four-month period, though you should expect to work for other Members of Chambers during the course of the year. During your first six months, you’ll be in chambers and in court, working closely with your pupil supervisors. You’ll also take part in our Pupillage Training Course. During your second six months, you’ll practise primarily in the Magistrates’ and Crown Courts.

We expect our pupils to become involved in the spectrum of work undertaken in chambers. In previous years this has included:

• Assisting David Perry QC with a case before the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR concerning whether the extradition of an individual where there was a real risk they would be sentenced to life without parole breached Article 3 Sanchez-Sanchez v The United Kingdom (Application no. 22854/20)
• Assisting Jonathan Hall KC with the first unexplained wealth order case (National Crime Agency v A [2018] EWHC 2534 (Admin)).
• Watching Alison Morgan KC prosecuting the Sabina Nessa murder at the Old Bailey.
• Shadowing Deputy District Judge Michael Bisgrove as he presided over a number of Extinction Rebellion trials.
• Pro bono work for organisations such as Advocate and Prisoners’ Advice Service.

We make our tenancy decisions in early autumn, following a structured tenancy assessment. We hope and expect that all of our pupils will be offered tenancy with us.

We select our pupils on the basis that we hope and expect they’ll become tenants. We also hope that, in time, they’ll develop into leading practitioners.

We look for candidates with:

• A strong academic interest in the criminal law and related fields.
• The ability to become effective advocates before a judge or jury.

Accordingly, applications are graded in the following areas, at each stage of the application process:

• Academic ability.
• Advocacy.
• Commitment to Chambers’ areas of work.
• Other exceptional achievements.

We take on the brightest and best applicants regardless of background. We encourage applications from anyone who believes they have the qualities to succeed in our Chambers, and we particularly encourage applications from groups that are under-represented at the criminal Bar.

Competition is fierce. Candidates with a degree result lower than 2:1 rarely reach the first round of interview unless there are mitigating circumstances.

Each year we receive around 250 to 300 applications. We select 50 to 70 candidates for a first round interview, then approximately 15 for a second round. From 2019, we will conduct “blind” recruiting at the paper application stage, meaning that your name and gender will not be known to the people who are grading your application form.

Here’s some information on what to expect if you’re invited for interview.

This is a 15-minute interview with two members of chambers. We’ll ask you about your application form, and to discuss a piece of written material (e.g. an extract from a case, or a newspaper article). We’ll give you the written material to read about 15 minutes in advance of your interview. We don’t expect you to have any prior knowledge of the written material. In fact we try to select topics that students are unlikely to have come across in their studies, so no one is put at a disadvantage. We’re interested in your approach and your analysis.

Prior to this interview, we’ll contact you and ask you to submit two pieces of written work, one must be completed under timed conditions and the other can be completed over the course of a few days. Before the interview, we’ll give you an advocacy exercise to complete during the interview. We’ll also you ask some questions which aim to measure your potential as an advocate. As with the first round, our questions are designed to assess potential, not to test your knowledge of any particular area. Second interviews usually last around 20 minutes.

Chambers is committed to meeting the aims and commitments set out in its Equality & Diversity Policy. It is only through fair and unbiased recruiting that Chambers can select the best candidates for pupillage. For that reason, we review our recruiting procedure each year to ensure that it satisfies our Equality & Diversity policy.

We therefore ask all applicants to fill in our Equality & Diversity Monitoring Form which can be accessed here. Filling in this form is completely voluntary. However, equality and diversity monitoring plays an important role in helping us to ensure that our recruitment procedures will be fair to candidates of all backgrounds.

The information you provide will stay confidential, will be stored securely and will never be considered as part of our assessment process of you.

Completed forms should be sent to diversity@6kbw.com.

As a result of the impact of the Coronavirus, Chambers is not currently accepting any applications for third six pupillages. Any developments will be announced on this webpage and via Twitter, so please check back regularly for updates.

Candidates with prior professional legal experience, such as transferring solicitors, may qualify for an exemption in relation to all or part of the BSB’s pupillage requirements. We are happy to consider applications from candidates in that position.

If you think you may be entitled to an exemption from the BSB, we invite you to apply for that exemption first, and make clear in your application to us what exemption you have been granted.

While your exemption may entitle you to undertake advocacy straight away, we ask all “exempt” pupils to undertake a short non-practising period with us, to ensure that you are ready to practice advocacy in the criminal courts. The length of this period can be agreed based on your existing experience, but it is unlikely to be less than three months.

Complete Exemptions

If you have been granted a complete exemption from all pupillage requirements you may apply to 6KBW for a third six pupillage. Please note that there is no financial award for transferring third six pupils (including for the non-practising period), although you will of course earn money from your own billing.

Partial Exemptions

If you have been granted a partial exemption from the regulatory requirements for pupillage, you may apply to 6KBW for an unfunded pupillage in line with that exemption and ask us to apply to the BSB for a funding exemption on your behalf. Please note that it is rare for us to agree to apply for a funding exemption, and rare for the BSB to grant one.

Candidates who have been granted a full or partial pupillage exemption may also wish to apply for a regular, funded twelve-month pupillage in line with the published timetable and using the standard application form.  This can be alongside (and as an alternative to) the applications described above.

If you have any questions about applying for a pupillage with an exemption, please email Leila Gaafar or Megan Millar. In particular, if you intend to apply for both a funded pupillage and a pupillage with a funding exemption, please discuss your plans with us in advance.

We welcome applications for mini-pupillages throughout the year: please contact Richard Evans enclosing a covering letter, CV and dates of availability. We particularly welcome applications from groups that are under-represented at the criminal Bar.