The Legal Cheek View
Made up of 260 juniors and 40 KCs, No5 Barristers’ Chambers is one of the largest sets in the country. Split across premises in Birmingham (its spiritual home), Bristol, and London, its tenants practice across the array of legal practice areas, covering everything from crime to business. The set divides up its practice into a number of core groups, into seven of which it is recruiting pupils this application round: the business and property group, the personal injury and clinical negligence group, the planning and environment group, the public law group, the employment group, the family group, and the crime group. Surely something for everyone! Recruitment focuses on Birmingham, with London also being a growth area. Given the sheer size of the set and its emphasis on recruiting pupils to core practice groups, it’s fair to say that No5 resembles a law firm more than a chambers.
With so many exciting practice areas on offer, it can be hard for applicants to know where to apply. Are they more drawn to the challenge of tracing mistaken payments or the thrill of cross-examining a defendant in criminal proceedings? Would they prefer to work on cases involving complex neurological injuries or those involving matrimonial finance? Whatever the answers, there is bound to be the sort of work to suit at No5. Pupils will be recruited to a particular practice area (and location) but will sometimes gain exposure to other areas during their pupillage. Successfully completing pupillage in a particular practice group will mean becoming a tenant in that group. Wherever a pupil ends up, “the clerks are absolutely excellent at developing a tenant’s practice in the direction they want it to go in”.
As well as the work on offer at No5 being broad in range, it is also high in quality. One tenant tells us: “it’s intellectually stimulating and varied. I work on legally complex cases on a weekly basis”. There are opportunities to work on bigger, newsworthy cases (often as a junior to a KC), as well as to take on your own smaller matters, whether landlord-tenant disputes or personal injury claims following a minor road traffic accident.
One junior offered this insight into their experience so far: “During the first six of my specialist pupillage in personal injury & clinical negligence, I got exposure to a wide array of cases relating to various medical areas (gynaecology, birth injuries, spinal cord injuries, cancer, dental injuries, amputation cases, gastrointestinal cases etc) and types of personal injuries (fatal accidents, road traffic accidents, occupiers’ liability, and employer’s liability). I also got to shadow members at various hearings, including multi and fast-track trials, small claims trials, inquests, approval hearings, CCMCs… I have gained experience by completing work in respect of each case that I was exposed to. Everything felt highly stimulating from the get-go.”
Over the past year, tenants at No5 have been working on some exciting cases. David Gardner had success in a judicial review quashing of a decision made by the Secretary of State to reject a prisoner’s recommendation to the parole board that he be moved to open conditions in the prison estate; Harpreet Sandhu KC and Cathlyn Orchard secured prosecution of defendants who supplied over £3 million worth in cocaine in the midlands; Jack Feeny appeared in the Supreme Court in the long running litigation between the trade union PSC and the Secretary of State in a claim for millions of pounds against the government; Grace Gwynne secured an unlawful killing conclusion for the family of a 13 year old girl and and Michelle Heeley KC was the prosecutor for the trial of a convicted PHD student terrorist who received a life imprisonment sentence.
It’s not just the seniors who work on interesting matters. One baby junior at the set reveals: “as a very junior tenant, the work is fascinating right out of pupillage. I’m handling cases as sole counsel that peers at other chambers won’t do until 5+ years of tenancy”. Of course, it can’t always be headline-grabbing stuff: “some stuff is “same old same old”; some is very interesting”, one No5 tenant confides.
When it comes to work-life balance at No5, views are somewhat mixed, but this is standard at the bar. Whilst some tenants burn the midnight oil, others prefer to have more downtime, but all generally recognise that the choice is their own: “work-life balance is very much a choice at No5 in my experience”, said one, “many juniors choose to prioritise this balance, some even work the typical 9-5 hours. However, in my pupillage, I have found myself working late hours slightly more often than I would have chosen.” That being said, this junior went on to tell us that they were “nowhere near as overworked as my friends were at others chambers during their pupillage” and we hear the set promotes a supportive environment with “flexible paternity/maternity leave policies, as well as chambers-wide schemes to ensure people can balance their home life with their intended practice”.
Tenants at No5 also generally praise their “highly supportive and caring colleagues”. One junior at the set gushes: “the colleagues are the best part about the job. We go for regular Friday drinks and are genuinely very good friends outside of work. In the job, everyone is immensely supportive and more than happy to answer the phone to deal with any queries you might have. There are numerous group chats set up for the juniors to discuss any pressing issues and stay in contact generally”. It sounds like a splendid community. Other tenants claim they “discovered what support looks like” after moving to No5 from another chambers, whilst one simply states: “we are family”.
Unfortunately, all this support hasn’t quite translated into a booming social scene, with many tenants working from home full-time or simply too busy. That being said, insiders do report of several socials at various bars and restaurants, office drinks every Thursday, and football-minded peers watching the Euros together. We’re told the most fun is to be had in Birmingham, with recent highlights there including “turning chambers into a casino, a mini-golf course, and a huge inflatable igloo”.
Another bonus for No5’s midland residents is the premises. One tells us: “the Birmingham mothership is a huge building and it’s easy to get lost! Members have traditional rooms and can choose to share as they wish. It’s sometimes easy to forget you’re in the West Midlands and not a traditional building in Temple”. The new space at 103 Colmore Row is said to be “even larger, more modern and sleek than London” which is no mean feat when you consider chambers’ Savoy-adjacent digs in London have just been refurbed. It is said to be “sleek, modern, and in a great location”. However, for those who prefer the more traditional setting of the Inns of Court, “it may not tick those boxes”. The tech and IT on offer suffers no such mixed reviews, with tenants across the board cheerily noting you “can always get help” from the “all new and excellent support team”.
No5 Barristers’ Chambers takes on six-eight pupils per year across its locations and into different practice groups. An award of £27,500 is made during the first six months of pupillage with a guarantee of at least £27,500 during your second six. Pupils can expect to sit with one supervisor for the entirety of their pupillage – something which is very unusual. During the first six, pupils will assist with tasks such as drafting opinions, whilst the second six will see pupils get on their feet, taking on their own cases. Throughout the 12 months training, pupils are “carefully monitored” to ensure progress, with supervisors preparing reports which provide feedback. Advocacy sessions and exercises are conducted throughout the year to help pupils gear up for the practising second six which involves “varied and challenging” work, often in county courts around the country.
“The training is very specialised. While some people might miss the variety, it gives you the chance to spend 12 months focussed on your own specific area”, one former pupil tells us. Other tenants also speak highly of the training that they received during pupillage, especially the pastoral support. “Not only was the technical side of pupillage taken care of but they also created an environment for pupils to do well and thrive”, one tells us, adding: “I genuinely felt that everyone was rooting for me to succeed”. Support is on hand from junior members who act as mentors to pupils, and the set says all its heads and deputy heads of group and pupillage are fully trained as senior counsellors, showing that pastoral support and wellbeing is a top priority for the set.
Those wishing to apply for pupillage at No5 should make their application through the set’s own application form. Prospective applicants should be ready to demonstrate intellectual ability, experience of law in practice, public speaking experience, written presentation ability, commitment/motivation, and interpersonal skills. The set will invite the highest-scoring candidates on the application form to a first-round interview, which focuses on the content of the application form. Those who impress will be invited to attend a one-day mini-pupillage before coming back for a second-round interview. This interview is more extensive and includes a legal problem.