Recruitment

Pupillage
Deans Court Chambers recruits pupils via OLPAS, the online application process set up by the Bar Council, during the Summer Season. The closing date is usually in April each year.  Full details of the process can be found here. We adhere to the Bar Code for Equality in recruitment and pupillage generally.  Candidates are selected solely on merit, irrespective of race, ethnic or national origin, nationality, citizenship, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, religion, political persuasion or disability. For reasons of fairness we do not recruit conventional pupils outside the OLPAS scheme.  However, solicitors looking to transfer to the Bar or others with partial exemption from a full pupillage are considered separately.

Pupillage applicants should have excellent intellectual qualities, be well motivated to pursue a career at the Bar on the Northern Circuit and have shown achievement and personal development in their outside interests and activities.  Whilst it is not an absolute requirement, we generally expect applicants to have at least AAB at ‘A’ level (or equivalent) and a 2:1 degree classification.

Once a pupil is in Chambers, a pupil supervisor takes responsibility for his / her development. Pupils rotate through Practice Groups by discussion and agreement and will have an excellent exposure to our work at all levels.  Although it is likely pupils will specialise with one Practice Group, they are expected to have an understanding of the full range of work undertaken at Deans Court.  We take a close interest in the progress of pupils and fund attendance for necessary training courses on the Northern Circuit and externally.

Pupils are likely to be busy with Court appearances during their Second Six. These appearances will be throughout the Northern Circuit and may well involve travel elsewhere.

During the First Six a pupillage grant of £7,500 is made to all pupils. However, once a pupillage offer is accepted, we are happy to advance £1,000 from the pupillage grant to support studies in the BVC year. During the Second Six we provide an earnings guarantee of £17,500.

By the end of pupillage we expect pupils to have achieved good or excellent proficiency in all relevant areas of professional competence.  All pupillage offers are made with a view to Tenancy and in recent years most pupils have gone on to become Tenants in Chambers. 

Mini-Pupillage
Deans Court Chambers offers a limited number of placements to university students who are considering a career at the Bar.  These placements, which are known as mini-pupillages, last for a few days to a week. All applicants must be over 18 and a declaration of confidentiality must be completed when the mini-pupillage is undertaken.  
Applications for mini-pupillage can be made at any time but we operate nominal closing dates of 1 September and 31 March each year.  Shortly after these dates have passed, we review the applications received in the previous six months and decide upon the placements we can offer during the next session. 

All applications for mini-pupillage should be addressed to Miss Pascale Hicks, enclosing a curriculum vitae and covering letter.

Established Practitioners
Deans Court Chambers will consider applications from outstanding barristers at all levels of seniority. Established practitioners are very welcome to apply. Any such application should be addressed to Mr Peter Atherton in the first instance and will be dealt with in complete confidence.