Pupillage

Pupillages Commencing October 2026 and 2027

Chambers’ reputation as the leading set in the North East across its core practice areas is consistently recognised by the legal press including Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500:

“Parklane Plowden Chambers is regarded amongst lawyers and legal commentators as the pre-eminent set on the North Eastern Circuit”

“They are a very forward thinking set…evidenced by its unique structure that embraces modern business practices”

“…a regional heavyweight set which has a growing national reputation. It has ‘exceptional litigators’ and ‘genuine strength in depth’. As one of the largest civil law sets in the region, it is strong across a range of practice areas…”.

“All of the barristers have been nothing but professional, warm and friendly,” comments one satisfied client.”

“…the clerking is excellent”

“Outstanding and by the far best in the North of England”

One of the reasons for our exceptional reputation and strength in depth is investment in our pupils and junior tenants. We firmly believe that by recruiting high quality pupils and providing high quality pupillages, Chambers will continue to thrive. We have a very strong tradition of offering tenancies to pupils who demonstrate the requisite level of ability and dedication and many of our senior practitioners were themselves pupils in Chambers.

Within Chambers, we have the following core teams:

  • Civil: Personal Injury, Clinical and Professional Negligence, Inquests, Industrial Disease, Civil Fraud, Insurance, Costs
  • Employment
  • Family
  • Chancery and Commercial
  • Court of Protection

Pupillage Opportunities

During the current Pupillage Gateway process, we are excited to confirm we intend to recruit up to 8 pupils for the following pupillages, all to start in 2027 unless otherwise stipulated:

  • A new specialist Civil Pupillage;
  • A new specialist Employment & Discrimination Pupillage;
  • A mixed Civil, Employment & Discrimination Pupillage;
  • Two Family Pupillages;
  • Two Chancery & Commercial Pupillages based in Leeds, one starting October 2026, one starting October 2027.

The new specialist Civil and specialist Employment & Discrimination pupillages are offered for the first time in 2027. We have long been at the forefront of the market in both areas and we are excited now to be offering specialist, dedicated training in each area alongside our traditional mixed Civil, Employment & Discrimination pupillage.

A specialist Civil Pupillage will primarily involve exposure to personal injury, industrial disease and clinical negligence work, together with inquests, civil fraud and costs. There will be an opportunity to experience some Court of Protection work for those that have an interest.  

A specialist Employment & Discrimination Pupillage will involve exposure to all aspects of employment and discrimination law, including race, sex and disability discrimination, equal pay, whistleblowing, unfair dismissal, collective labour rights, contractual employment law and TUPE. There will also be an opportunity, for those that wish, to gain experience of education law with our Education team.

A mixed Civil, Employment & Discrimination Pupillage will involve exposure to our core areas of personal injury, clinical negligence, employment and discrimination, with opportunities to gain experience across the spectrum of work in each area.

A Family Pupillage will involve exposure to all aspects of family law including public and private child work, applications under Part IV Family Law Act 1996, matrimonial finance, financial provision for children under Schedule 1, cohabitation disputes and Inheritance Act applications, as well as to our expanding area of practice within the Court of Protection. Members of Chambers regularly represent local authorities, parents, children, the Official Solicitor, as well as private clients.

A Chancery & Commercial Pupillage will involve exposure to chancery  and commercial litigation. This includes contentious probate and trust work, claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act and all forms of property work. The commercial work our pupils often deal with  includes partnership disputes, banking and finance and general commercial litigation.

We will try to accommodate candidates’ preferences about whether they are located in Leeds or Newcastle as far as we are able, though the Chancery & Commercial Pupillages will be based in Leeds. We will seek to adapt each pupillage according to the interests of the pupil, having regard to Chambers’ business needs at the time.

We understand the importance of pastoral support. In addition to their pupil supervisors, pupils will be allocated a “junior mentor”, will attend internal training sessions and have regular appraisals with a member of the Pupillage Committee to ensure they are happy with their pupillage and their progress.

Pupillage Open Evenings: 9th and 11th December 2025

To enable you to find out more about pupillage within Chambers, we are hosting open evenings on Tuesday 9th December 2025 in Leeds and Thursday 11th December 2025 in Newcastle, starting at 6pm. These will be informal events providing a chance to meet some of our current pupils and members, have a look around our premises and listen to a few short presentations about the pupillages we have on offer, our different practice areas, as well as our selection process and how best to approach it.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to events@parklaneplowden.co.uk by Friday 5 December 2025.

In the interim, for more information about pupillages within Chambers, see our Pupillage Training Programme, available here.

Equality and Diversity

Chambers is committed to equal opportunities for all, irrespective of background, and to promoting and improving diversity at the Bar. We particularly encourage applications from those in groups underrepresented at the Bar.

Further details can be found, in relation to:

  • Equality and Diversity generally: here
  • CSR and Outreach: here
  • The PLP Foundation: here

Candidates are requested not to put their names on their application forms so that they can be sifted anonymously to reduce the possibility of any unconscious bias.

We monitor diversity by way of our Equal Opportunities Monitoring Forms which candidates are invited to also complete with their applications. These forms are used only for monitoring purposes, they are kept separate from the application forms and are not used as part of the selection process.

How to Apply

Applications need to be made on the relevant Application Form which you can find below, once released:

  • All forms of Civil, Employment & Discrimination Pupillages:  Application Form here 
  • Family Pupillages: Application Form here
  • Chancery & Commercial Pupillage: Application Form here
  • Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form: here

The applications window runs from 11:00am on Monday 5th January 2026 to Thursday 22nd January 2026 at 11:59pm. All applications must be received during this period.

The relevant Application Form and Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form should be sent as separate attachments to the appropriate address below:

Interviews

All first-round interviews are likely to take place on a Saturday in late February or early March.

All second-round interviews are likely to take place on a Saturday in late March or April.

Pupillage Awards

All of our pupillages are funded by an overall package worth at least £45,000 over the 12 months made up as follows:

  • An award of £20,000 for the first six months to be paid pro rata at the end of each month;
  • Guaranteed receipts of at least £25,000 for the second six months. 

However, we anticipate pupils will generate income significantly in excess of the guaranteed receipts, with billing in the first full year of practice likely to exceed £100,000.

If a prospective pupil wishes to draw down part of their pupillage award early, we are more than happy to facilitate that.  

During pupillage, Chambers will pay for each pupil’s reasonable travel and accommodation expenses incurred during the course of pupillage when accompanying members of Chambers, the cost of all compulsory training courses and travel expenses to attend such courses and the costs of attending Mess on Circuit. At the start of the first six months, Chambers will provide each pupil with an advance to cover anticipated expenses in the month ahead.

Selection Criteria

We will be looking to recruit exceptional candidates who are able to demonstrate high level competencies and attributes in a number of different areas.

Our Pupillage Selection Criteria, which we encourage candidates to have regard to when completing their forms, can be found here along with details of how we propose to assess those competencies during the selection process.