Maitland Chambers

Recent cases are illustrative. Ted Loveday (of Legal Cheek and University Challenge fame, hapax legomenon) recently acted for the successful defendant in Mitchell Winehouse v Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay, a High Court dispute brought by Amy Winehouse’s father over the auctioning of items associated with the late singer. Staying on the chart-toppers theme, Edmund Cullen KC acted for The 1975 (yes, the band) in a Malaysian festival dispute, while Narinder Jhittay appeared for Alphabet/Google in a highly publicised challenge alleging the tech giant had breached UK and/or EU competition law. For something more classically commercial chancery, Caley Wright acted for the successful claimants in Zhevago v Francombe Ventures, a dispute over the beneficial ownership of English companies used as holding structures for Ukrainian operating businesses, with allegations of fabricated evidence thrown in for good measure.

Nor should we overlook the handful of Supreme Court appearances Maitland barristers have made recently. In the insolvency realm, Christopher Parker KC and Andrew Westwood KC were instructed in a case dealing with the scope of fraudulent trading provisions. Andrew Twigger KC fought it out in the highest court in the land in LA Micro Group v LA Micro Group, a decision confirming that beneficial interests in private company shares can be transferred by enforceable unwritten agreement, without the need for formal documentation. In fiduciary law, Watson Pringle KC acted at all stages up to the Supreme Court in a case concerning the scope of an account of profits where a fiduciary allegedly diverted a corporate business opportunity to a competitor. And the appellate pipeline shows no sign of slowing: David Mumford KC and James Kinman recently acted for the National Iranian Oil Company in a Court of Appeal trusts and insolvency dispute concerning valuable London property, an arbitral award and transaction-avoidance provisions, with permission to appeal to the Supreme Court now granted. So much for chancery practitioners being buried under Dickensian papers.

In the words of one insider: “Chambers’ work is some of the best at the commercial bar. Members are sought after for some of the biggest litigation out there, even when it isn’t necessarily within chambers’ core practice areas, such as the Article 50 Brexit litigation heard en banc by the Supreme Court. Within our core areas, I’ve been involved in some of the biggest and most important commercial, fraud, company and sovereign immunity cases of recent years.” That seems to ring true. And it isn’t just the senior members, according to another junior: “Maitland’s work is top notch: everything from commercial arbitrations to property disputes. Junior tenants are given an ideal mix of unled and led work, with real responsibility from day one of tenancy.” This is a set where the briefs are “both legally challenging and factually interesting”, says one tenant, while another adds that they’re “plus often cross-border, often (very) high value”, which sounds like a stellar combination. Hardly surprising it “challenges every day”, meaning there’s “rarely a quiet moment”.

Junior work, the set says, breaks down into two main types. The first is smaller cases as sole counsel, typically modest contractual disputes, insolvency, company and property litigation. The second sees juniors led by KCs or senior juniors in larger matters, where they experience a broad diet of commercial chancery litigation including asset recovery, civil fraud, complex insolvency, offshore work and trusts. As they gain experience, juniors are free to specialise or develop expertise across all the main areas Maitland undertakes.

Pupils sit with four supervisors in total, usually a senior junior, one per 10-week rotation, and can expect to attend court, arbitrations, mediations and other settlement hearings. Client conferences, including virtual and telephone ones, are also on the menu. Feedback is described as “transparent”, with the aim to “build up” rather than “break down”. There is an in-house advocacy training and assessment programme, with each exercise built around a mock hearing prepared from a set of papers given in advance. Maitland places real emphasis on training during the pupillage year, so pupils aren’t expected to practise during most of the second six. After the tenancy decision, some pupils do take on their own caseload. Pupils are welcome at all social events (including the juniors’ Friday fish and chips) and are assigned two pupil mentors who know the pupillage process well. Those mentors act as a cornerstone for any personal or professional issues a pupil would rather not raise with their supervisor. By the end, you can expect to “emerge well-prepared and confident that you can hit the ground running”.

On training, “Maitland is rightly proud” of its programme, lauds one rookie, “which involves a very carefully devised and delivered training programme by supervisors (of diverse seniority, practice area and background) and with a bespoke in-house advocacy and ethics training as well. It is supportive and designed to help pupils to succeed.” Another junior chimes in that “the advocacy training in particular is unlike that offered by any other set at the Bar that I am aware of”. A third agrees: “Pupillage was fantastic, especially compared to the experiences of peers.” And if you thought the Maitlanders couldn’t get any more glowing, one colleague went the full country mile: “The year I spent in pupillage was the year I improved the most in my whole education from nursery school to university. There is a huge commitment to the education of pupils and helping them to achieve the high standards that Chambers expects.” Wow. Forget your SATs and GCSEs. One more sober-eyed insider played it straight, though: “A Maitland pupillage is focussed on education”, which is clear enough, before adding that “pupillage anywhere is inevitably stressful, but Maitland went the extra mile to try and make it as enriching an experience as possible”. The training doesn’t stop after pupillage, either, as one senior junior noted: “Even now I can still benefit from seminars and other events to keep myself up to date.”

Based out of 7 Stone Buildings, in a 1770s Georgian cul-de-sac in the Lincoln’s Inn estate tucked just around from the Inn’s chapel, Maitland blends heritage with modern facilities suited to barristers and clients alike. The result is a “grand and confident facade: both beautiful and impressive”. Most members like it here, even where it lacks some modern amenities, which one spy framed as a “bit of a difference between the client facing parts and the rest of it to be honest”. One junior is nevertheless full of praise: “Gorgeous building in Lincoln’s Inn. My room has views of the gardens and beautiful high ceilings. We mostly share rooms with other members now, but there’s plenty of space to go around.” Internal facilities are “excellent”: five separate conference rooms that can accommodate “up to 40” and are sometimes used for multi-party mediations, two of them with video-conferencing screens. Any shortcomings are “in the pipeline” for refurbishment, we’re told. One junior wasn’t happy with the “tired” downstairs kitchen and “library area”, “but they are all due a refurb this year”.

Inside, we hear there’s a “true open-door policy” built on a “really strong collegiate feel” and great “camaraderie”. “Chambers is very much a community”, members say, and not just among barristers. As one junior notes, “there is also a good bond with the staff, a real feel that everyone is pulling in the same direction.” Part of that means “doors are always open in chambers, for advice or help with a knotty problem, or just for a chat when things are hard. This is not just something we say. It is something we really do.” When stuck on one of those knotty problems, one junior says they “can readily ring a silk in chambers to ask them for their view, and colleagues at around my level of call”, which chimes with another’s experience of asking “stupid questions”, or, more likely, really, really tough ones.

Tech is top-tier too, “pretty much 24/7” apparently, with members “brilliantly looked after by the amazing Wojtek, and a really good IT set-up”. “You ask, and it gets done”, we’re told. That tracks for one junior: “Chambers IT is well integrated and keen to be on the cutting edge (to align with our reputation for tech and crypto work, amongst other things). IT is always happy to help, and knowledgeable about all types of systems and tech working patterns.” Good stuff.

On the social side, one Maitlander described things as “excellent and getting even better, with a social events committee to find ways to encourage us to get together and chat, IRL”. That matters when successive paper days can keep you working from home. There are “plenty of social opportunities” to meet the “really lovely people at Maitland”, and one junior reckons they’ve “made some of my best friends, lifelong friends, in Chambers”, a sentiment echoed by another who has “made great friends, whom I also see outside of work”. Impromptu pub crawls around the Inns of Court, daily tea and coffee, fish and chips, lunches and dinners are all on offer, and the social committee also puts on bigger events, including “a skiing trip for those of us who can get away from other commitments”. The social side extends overseas, too, with members attending the Thought Leaders 4 events in Vilamoura (cue another Maitland client dinner), the Channel Islands and the Middle East, plus events in Dubai, Dublin, Cannes, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, and on it goes.

As such a tight-knit bunch, do they still find time for a life beyond the bar? One junior put it like this: “While obviously it is up to every individual member of Chambers how they balance work and wider life, there is no culture of ‘work, work, work’, whether from more senior members, one’s peers or the clerks. Indeed, I more often get told to take some time off or to make sure I don’t overdo it. Chambers has highly developed policies for parental leave and similar; effective return-to-work systems and support for those who wish to take a different approach; and has, during my time here, on many occasions offered support and encouragement (material and emotional) to those who needed it for personal reasons.”

The consensus does seem to be that “how much work you do is up to you”. Family commitments are well catered for, Legal Cheek understands, especially around children and caring responsibilities. As one mother of a toddler explains: “Chambers has always been incredibly understanding about working around my nursery drop-off and pickup schedule. They’re also keen not to push pupils to work outside working hours, and everyone is very keen that we take regular breaks to recharge.” “The whole ethos of chambers is friendly and clubbable”, one junior says, before his colleagues tell him to take a holiday. Essentially, “your time is your own. Nobody is looked down upon for having priorities other than work. That said, Chambers has the work to totally fill your diary if you want it.” Or, as one wordsmith put it: “Maitland celebrates the people behind the barristers.”

Those interested should apply through the Pupillage Gateway, in line with its timetable. The set welcomes applications from law and non-law backgrounds alike, and says tenants split roughly 50/50 between the two, with a 2:1 the key minimum. Get your application in ship-shape, though, because Maitland allows candidates only two attempts to beat out the 200-odd applicants and land that coveted place. Roughly 40 are invited to a first-round interview: after a short preparation period, this runs 25 minutes before a panel of two or three members, with some general questions and a longer discussion around a hypothetical case, designed to test general reasoning and analysis rather than legal knowledge. Around 10 progress to the second round. After 60 minutes of prep, candidates face 30 minutes on a more detailed hypothetical case, again centred on reasoning and analysis rather than legal knowledge, before a panel of up to five, including one or more KCs.

Maitland anonymises every application, with each form scored by two independent members against the four criteria the set looks for: reasoning and analytical ability; aptitude for written and oral advocacy; judgement; and interpersonal skills and temperament.

The pupillage experience

I was drawn to Maitland because of the strengths that it has across disparate practice areas. That breadth of expertise means that where commercial work is high-value, but also throws up complexities requiring experience which falls outside of a more ‘specialist’ practice, it comes to Maitland, as we have exposure to different practice areas from the get-go.

My pupillage exemplified that breadth of experience. I did pupillage with two co-pupils (who are now dear friends and colleagues at Maitland). Over 40 weeks, the three of us had four pupil supervisors with unique practices. This meant that we were trained and examined on a variety of material, including general commercial litigation, civil fraud, insolvency, company, landlord & tenant, and private trusts. Our supervisors’ work was truly multi-disciplinary, and by the end of pupillage, I felt that I’d been given the space to dive deeply into areas of the law which I had only been introduced to by the GDL. During our pupillage, my co-pupils and I saw our supervisors appear in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, but also saw the day-to-day life of a practicing barrister, juggling the various spinning plates that a life in practice entails. Throughout, I felt supported and engaged.

In terms of the training itself, pupil supervisors set pupils pieces of dead work to complete within a timeframe. This means that your focus is on learning and completing the task to the best of your abilities, and it gives you space to take time and delve into law or procedure which will almost certainly be new to you. It also means that your work/life balance as a pupil is excellent — I worked 09:00 to 18:00 throughout the year, which was ample time to complete my assigned work to the best of my ability, and usually to read around the topic as well.

At Maitland, your supervisor’s marks and assessment of your work are provided to you after every assignment, in the form of a grade and detailed feedback. This means that you are able to respond dynamically and there are no surprises — if your grades start to drop, then you are aware and you’re able to take steps to fix it.

As pupillage at Maitland is fully non-practising, you receive your advocacy training through in-house advocacy exercises. These are tough, but they prepare you well for practice. Senior members of Chambers volunteer to act as ‘judges’, which is naturally terrifying! However, it means once you are actually in front of a judge, you have had a good set of trial runs, and received honest feedback about your advocacy. This is invaluable, as it helps you hone the skills you learn in bar school for the ‘real world.’

Tenancy decisions are made solely by a panel of your pupil supervisors and advocacy assessors — the people who actually had exposure to you during pupillage. There is no email round with your ‘report’ for all of Chambers to see, and the other members do not get a say in whether you are taken on or not. This gives the year an added comfort, as it takes away the feeling that you are under a microscope during every interaction, and allows you to perform your best at what actually counts — your work. There is, moreover, space for all pupils to be taken on — in the past three years (including mine) that is what has happened. This fosters a great relationship between the pupils — my co-pupils and I had lunch every day, and they were a crucial support network throughout the year.

All in all, pupillage at Maitland was rigorous but highly rewarding. The pressure is on you to deliver your best on your assessed pieces of work — but otherwise, you are supported and made to feel comfortable. You know where you stand at all times, and what you need to do to be taken on as a tenant — there are no secret assessments, and no unnecessary added pressure in the form of live work, paying clients, or a Chambers-wide vote. You are competing with yourself, with the support of your co-pupils and your supervisors. I still call my former supervisors (far too regularly!) for support, and count my former co-pupils as great friends.

The transition from pupil to tenant

The transition from pupil to tenant was fairly smooth — at the end of the assessed period of pupillage, you have several weeks to catch your breath, and get your ducks in a row for the start of tenancy. It is a very exciting period — you feel like after years of training, you have finally reached the place you’ve worked so hard for.

Pupillage is quirky in that you are learning on the work that barristers far senior to you are working on, and which is therefore likely to be fairly complex. As a baby junior, you have a mixture of these types of cases (where you are led), but at Maitland we also do lots of unled work, on cases which are less complex than those which your supervisors have had you working on — but which throw up new challenges. In particular, as a junior you are often against litigants-in-person, which requires a very particular skillset, and a keen eye to ethical duties which you may not have looked at since bar school.

Over the summer following pupillage, you spend time shadowing junior members of Chambers, and seeing the type of cases that you will soon be working on. This is invaluable experience, and prepares you well for the start of tenancy. Once tenancy actually begins — the fun starts! You start to get your very first cases, some led and some unled. Maitland has some great connections with solicitors who have work that gets you on your feet, alone, from day one.

You start travelling around the country, learning how things are done at different county courts (all of which have their own quirks and eccentricities). You learn very quickly what irritates district judges, the pitfalls to avoid when appearing against litigants-in-person, and you improve your client management skills. I have found the cut-and-thrust of the county court world to be the most radical difference from pupillage, and trading tales with my colleagues at our Thursday pub trip or at Chambers tea (a daily fixture) is always great fun.

Your hours will be longer as a tenant, but I have found myself more motivated. The buck ultimately stops with you — but that is, in my view, what I have worked all these years for. There are tough days — a loss is never easy — but after so much training, it is exhilarating to take the training wheels off and actually do the job.

What is your practice like now?

As I write this I’m coming up to two years in practice. I’ve had a real mixture of work so far, both in terms of the practice area, but also led versus unled, and county court versus high court.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked on some fascinating cases thus far — whether that is by virtue of knotty legal issues, or the subject matter of the work itself. In terms of led work, I have mainly worked on company/insolvency cases (including directors’ disqualifications), as well as complex frauds. I have been led by several members of Chambers, all of whom were highly supportive leaders.

In terms of unled work, I have appeared in county courts across the country in trials and interim hearings, and cross-examined witnesses. I am usually in court at least once a week but it varies — I have gone a month or so without a hearing, and have had times where I am in a different court every day on a different matter. For a commercial chancery set, we have a lot of exposure to advocacy. I have also appeared in the High Court, both as a junior, but also unled.

As for work/life balance, I would say we work hard, but not unsociably so. I feel that I have ample time to pursue my hobbies and to be there for my friends and family. One blessing of the pandemic is that much of our work is done online — there is therefore scope to work abroad sometimes, and to work from home. Coming into Chambers is my preference, however, in order to catch up with colleagues — working from home can be isolating, particularly when you are working on unled cases.

What is the culture of chambers?

Maitland has a very collegiate atmosphere — we are a sociable set, made up of characters from many different walks of life, and with a diversity of interests. I could tell from my mini-pupillage and the pre-offer events that the environment at Maitland was a happy one — and that is a view which I hold stronger than ever after nearly three years here. That ‘sense’ of collegiality was intangible to me as a mini-pupil, but is something that as a tenant, I can readily identify in the various ways in which the members and staff support each other.

It is tangible in the ways in that the members support each other — whether that be covering a hearing for a colleague who has other work/life commitments, getting together to celebrate a colleague’s success or commiserate a loss, being able to ask each other for help untangling a particularly thorny case, and so on.

It is also tangible in the ways that our clerks and support staff support us. Our clerks are highly supportive — you are never pressured into taking on more work, nor do you find any ‘surprises’ in your diary, the relationship is truly collaborative. The atmosphere in the clerks room means that it is easy to walk in, have a chat about life, and talk through any concerns you have. We place a lot of trust in our clerks, and that trust is always repaid in kind. Our support staff are similarly fantastic — they are responsive, helpful, and they work hard to keep Maitland running. Their support is invaluable.

Our collegiality is fostered by our social life. We have a weekly pub trip, as well as Chambers’ tea every day. We throw internal parties over the year, with the purpose of bringing the whole of Chambers together, both within Chambers and externally. We also always make sure to celebrate our pupils when they join, and when they are taken on as tenants, with special drinks events — in my experience, these are the best-attended events of the year, and members (including the most senior members) make a real effort to show up for pupil events. We also celebrate lateral hires joining — it’s always exciting to have a new face, bringing with them a new background and perspective on life and practice at the bar.

Finally, Maitland is at 7 Stone Buildings, the corner of stone buildings in Lincoln’s Inn. I never cease to be grateful at our location — it is a true privilege to work in a green oasis in the very centre of London. The view from my window is the wildflower meadow and Lincoln’s Inn Library (a lovely place to work which is open to Bar students!). Whenever a case has me in a twist, a stroll through the gardens and into Lincoln’s Inn fields is always grounding.

Top tips for those wanting to become a barrister/secure a pupillage at your chambers

Everyone’s path is different — in terms of generic advice, I would say my top tip is not to wait until you feel ‘ready’ — if you’re still a work in progress, you can still get pupillage. I very much was, and remain, a work in progress. I recommend putting together a checklist of the experience you know that Chambers are looking for (like the one in The Path to Pupillage). I had a whiteboard, and I would tick off my goals (e.g., a certain number of moots), and write under each item what I had done to fulfil that criteria. In terms of interviews — I asked literally everyone I knew to do a practice interview with me (whether or not they had a legal background). This helped me to become more fluent, and have my ‘stock’ answers flow naturally.

In terms of securing pupillage at Maitland, I suggest reading around the cases which our members have done and sourcing a few that you find interesting — but not just the very high profile work, looking also at the work that juniors are doing (as that is what you’ll be working on). More than anything, this will help you decide if our work is actually right for you, and help you draft your application. Beyond that, keep calm during the interviews!