The Legal Cheek View
Meet 3PB at Legal Cheek’s upcoming Virtual Pupillage Fair!
One of the largest sets in the UK, with over 260 barristers spread across London, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford, and Winchester, 3PB is not one to be ignored by those on the pupillage hunt. Tracing its roots back to Christmas day in 1892, and with a host of highly regarded former members (including a Nobel Prize winner) the set boasts a broad practice. On the agenda are crime, family, IP, chancery, education, and employment, as well as developing commercial, property, personal injury, and medical negligence practices.
It’s clear that junior members can expect to be involved in a good chunk of this offering. Rookies speak of “an excellent variety of work with high complexity that is challenging and interesting to undertake”, leaving them with “a diverse practice where every day is different”. Tenants also value the “social value in the work” and juniors praise the clerks’ ability to tailor and build a personal practice. “With the breadth and volume of work coming in, there are enough new cases in my preferred areas” says one, another reporting that “chambers has assisted me to build the practice I want.” There are certainly no complaints to be found here.
Recent highlights from this national powerhouse include Tom Horder securing successful acquittals in two back-to-back high case murder trials; silk Mathew Gullick KC acting as counsel for the UK Government at an ECtHR hearing concerning a potential breach of Article 6 ECHR rights; and, Rebecca Farrell helping a school secure the dismissal of a six-figure winding up petition presented by a landlord. On all accounts, a wide range of juicy work for the lucky tenants.
For those worried that such a broad and complex variety of work may be daunting, fear not, we hear the training is top notch. “Training for pupils and junior tenants is excellent” reports one, “there are lots of training opportunities within chambers, and a great deal of effort is put into training”. Rookies speak of a “thorough, comprehensive and proactive” approach, with head of pupillage Cheryl Jones being described as “an absolute force of nature”. Rumour has it, “she makes each batch of pupils the best they can possibly be, with the assistance of the whole of chambers”. Strong words from one, clearly very happy, customer.
The year-long pupillage programme comes with a healthy minimum reward of £40k, along with an additional £17k worth of bonuses, including healthcare, training, travel expenses, and financial advice. During this training, recruits spend time with four supervisors, take on their own workload, and are given marshalling opportunities and mock advocacy exercises.
It’s not just the training that helps the 3PB intake cruise to success, we’re told that the support available in chambers is difficult to top. Rookies speak of “an excellent collegiate atmosphere”, where there are always “multiple highly experienced individuals available to assist on any issue with a variety of means to contact people.” In the words of one practitioner: “Chambers is collegiate. You can genuinely call on anyone for support whether it is a point you are struggling with or the need for a sounding board to air concerns. We also have a welfare and EDO team who can provide support to members on personal matters including physical and mental health difficulties or work related issues. Senior members are approachable and are integrated well into the set. Our CEO is also approachable and there to help and support members. The clerking team is also supportive from junior clerks to practice directors both in relation to practice related and personal matters.”
What’s more, the balance created within chambers between work and rest doesn’t seem to be hurting the juniors’ jolly moods. “Members work hard and to a high standard, but do not work long hours regularly or for the sake of it and respect members’ down-time including weekends and holidays.” This cheery commenter isn’t alone, others similarly speaking of “clerks and members encouraging balancing work with making sure enough breaks are taken”, as well as “lots of great wellbeing talk and info from members”. We have also heard (shocking!) whispers of juniors not being overloaded to the point of exhaustion, with one crazy comment even suggesting that recruits “have never encountered a problem taking time off work when they need to”. Who would want to work in an environment where their wellbeing is prioritised, and life comes before work?
There is also a “very good” social life on offer here, with “lots of opportunities to engage with colleagues and the clerking teams around our busy practices.” Insiders say this “this ranges from pizza to prosecco, attending pride events, battle of the bands and non-chambers related catch-ups over lunch or weekends”. There’s also monthly drinks on a Friday and informal gatherings generally every week within practice groups and this year chambers are also hosting an Oktoberfest celebration in London with all proceeds going to the Child Brain Injury Trust.
Chambers receives some mixed reviews for its various abodes with Birmingham and Bristol said to have “state of the art facilities” whilst London is “tired but in an excellent location in Inner Temple”. Luckily, renovations are said to be around the corner for the more dated spaces but for now juniors continue to enjoy the “character” of the old style chambers.
Whether in office or at home, rookies praise the IT and tech support on offer. “We have very good outsourced support on tap”, chimes one, with others complementing the support that is “only a call or email away”, and the “dedicated member of staff and full access to online IT support on offer”. Simply put, says one, “I cannot praise our head of operations enough on this”.
The set is also unique as it is one of the few chambers that publishes its financial results. 2023-2024 saw a new high for the national chambers, with turnover of £35.8 million and receipts of £36.1 million, a rise of 17.8% and 14.3% respectively from last year’s results of £30.4 million and £31.6 million. Not a bad time for family law silk Liz McGrath KC to take over as the new head of chambers.
Those who are looking to join the set should keep an eye out on Pupillage Gateway. After the initial paper sift, candidates can then expect to be given two interviews, the first being more general, and the second focusing on an advocacy exercise and prepared brief. In total, applicants will be marked by up to ten members of chambers across the application phase.