Pupillage

Pupillages Commencing October 2026

Parklane Plowden

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
  • Commercial and Chancery

Pupillage Opportunities for 2026-7

During the current Pupillage Gateway process, we are pleased to confirm we intend to recruit up to 6 pupils for the following specialist pupillages:

  • Civil & Employment Pupillage based in Leeds;
  • Civil & Employment Pupillage based in Newcastle;
  • Family Pupillage based in Leeds;
  • Family Pupillage based in Newcastle;
  • Commercial & Chancery Pupillage based in Leeds.

A Civil & Employment Pupillage will involve exposure primarily to personal injury, clinical negligence and employment work, with opportunities to experience some of our other civil practice areas too. We will seek to adapt the pupillages according to the interests of the pupil, having regard to Chambers’ business needs at the time.

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.

Pupillage Open Evening: 22nd January 2025

To enable you to find out more, we are hosting an open evening on Wednesday 22nd January 2025 in our Newcastle Chambers starting at 6pm. It will be an informal event providing a chance to meet some of our current pupils and members, have a look around the building 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 21st January 2025.

In the interim, for more information about pupillages within Chambers, see our Pupillage Guide available here and 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 find below, once released:

  • Civil & Employment Pupillage Application Form: here 
  • Family Pupillage Application Form: here
  • Commercial & Chancery Application Form: here
  • Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form: here

The applications window runs from 11:00am on Thursday 2nd January 2025 to Thursday 6th February 2025 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

For Civil & Employment Pupillages, interviews will be held in person in Leeds or Newcastle and are provisionally scheduled to take place on 15th March (1st round) and 26th April (2nd round).

For Family Pupillages, interviews will be held in person in Leeds or Newcastle and are provisionally scheduled to take place on 22nd March (1st round) and 12th April (2nd round).

For the Commercial & Chancery pupillage, interviews will be held in person in Leeds and are provisionally scheduled to take place on 22nd March (1st round) and 26th April (2nd round).

Pupillage Awards

All of our pupillages are funded by an overall package worth at least £35,000 over the 12 months made up as follows:

  • An award of £15,000 for the first six months to be paid pro rata at the end of each month;
  • Guaranteed receipts of at least £20,000 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.

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.