Serle Court

Commercial chancery work inherently brings this variety, as one junior at the set summarised: “you genuinely get the best of both worlds: one day you may be against a Magic Circle commercial set; the next advising on a complex chancery matter”. Almost uniquely, too, Serle Court has a leading presence in IP, meaning juniors, between insolvencies and trusts disputes, could dip their toes into a practice area usually reserved only for specialist sets.

Whatever the tenants at Serle Court are working on, it’s rarely dull. The high calibre of its members (including head of chambers Elizabeth Jones KC) continues to attract top-tier work. One tenant puts it simply: “This is the kind of work that makes the job worthwhile.” From multi-billion-pound fraud disputes to cases involving government officials, there is hardly ever a quiet day.

Over the past few years, Serle Court has been involved in several headline-grabbing cases. Michael Edenborough KC and Niamh Herrett acted for Oatly before the Supreme Court in the landmark trademark fight over whether plant-based brands can use the word “milk.” A number of Serle Court barristers have also been involved in the Mariana Fundão dam disaster litigation, with Jonathan McDonagh acting for the claimants earlier this year after BHP tried to appeal the judgement which found them liable for the dam’s collapse. Giselle McGowan also acted in another food-related case, this time on the question of VAT, which asked the very important question: are Sensations Poppadoms classed as crisps for tax purposes? On a more serious note, Michael Walsh KC intervened for the Secretary of State in the first Supreme Court case dealing with the new building safety legislation introduced in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. A whole suite of interesting private international law, charities, IP, civil fraud and insolvency cases, ranging from the county to Supreme Courts, also featured Serle Court barristers this year — from contentious probate to e-cigs.

With so much exciting work on offer, it can be hard to say no to cases, but we are told clerks are very supportive in meeting the wishes of individual members and that everyone’s choices are respected by all. One insider told us that “chambers is incredibly supportive of the choices that each member makes as to the balance they want to achieve between work and home life” whilst another silk with two young children tells us that “this is an absolute priority for me and one which the clerks are 100% supportive of. I don’t get it right all the time, but generally manage to preserve weekends, half terms and some of the school holidays as ‘sacrosanct’ family time. I have learnt to say no!”. Another tenant finds it a bit more turbulent, saying “[the work] goes from too much to too little” but adds “at least it is under my control and I am not at the beck and call of a partner with billing targets”.

There is no doubt that the quality of work at Serle Court “requires 100% effort, skill, expertise, energy, thought and action”, as one junior puts it. Fortunately, the Serle Court bunch are all very supportive of each other. One says the support of their colleagues is in their opinion “the best thing about chambers” whilst another gleans “I have made lifelong friends”. Preserving the “collegiate atmosphere” is apparently “at the heart of [the] management of chambers”. The open-door policy, which we hear is taken seriously, means that if you are stuck on a point of law, or just want to grab a coffee with somebody, there is always someone to rely on. As one junior says: “there is always someone available to give advice on a tricky legal or ethical problem, or just to chat about your day.”

Socially, there’s said to be “a real effort to put on a range of regular social events including chambers lunches, weekly drinks and other ad hoc gatherings” and no-one here skips the venerable tradition of chambers’ tea. The fact the chambers backs on to the Seven Stars pub according to one member “certainly means that there will be someone to have a drink with after a long day”. This is particularly true for juniors, who have a WhatsApp group “where invites go out for lunch and drinks a number of times a week.” While socialising with colleagues is not for everyone, one member highlights that although they tend to choose to not be involved, they are still invited to do so.

Serle Court finds itself in the heart of Lincoln’s Inn, split across two buildings. The main premises is a traditional 17th century double fronted building on New Square with conference rooms overlooking the garden and chapel. The building oozes charm thanks to the original wooden stairs and “wonky floors”, coupled with sleek modern touches such as mineral, sparkling, and boiling water on constant supply via a fancy kitchen tap.

The Chancery Lane annex is also said to be light, airy and air-conditioned with impressive 20ft ceilings! Many barristers seem to prefer this to the traditional premises given, whilst it has “charm and character”, it is “impractical”. Chambers has been modernised (as much as possible in the Inn) for today’s working practices including video hearings with technology being a major area of heavy investment in recent years.

Serle Court offers up to four pupillages per year, with a £85,000 award. Pupils sit with four different supervisors throughout their training who are “knowledgeable and experienced” in their different areas of practice. Pupils shadow their supervisors for the whole 12 months, rather than taking on their own caseload, but advocacy is taught by practical exercises in front of senior members of chambers. One recent graduate of the Serle Court pupillage process tells us: “The focus is on learning rather than assessment, which means you are able to always ask what seem like ‘silly’ or ‘basic’ questions. You get to see work across chambers’ practices and usually sit with people of different levels of call”. Another praises the “super bespoke training programme aimed at juniors with seminars delivered by silks and leading juniors on diverse practice topics such as cross-examination technique or mediation.”

The set looks for those “committed to a career in commercial or chancery practice”, with “outstanding intellectual and analytical ability” with the “the potential to become excellent advocates” and a “capacity to establish and maintain good relationships with solicitors, clients and the judiciary”.

Those wishing to apply should make their application through the Pupillage Gateway. Applicants will be asked to sit a multiple-choice Situational Judgment Test, which is not compulsory, but affords applicants a further opportunity to be awarded an interview, because those scoring in the top 10% on the test are interviewed whether or not they make it through the application sift. Approximately 40 candidates are invited for first-round interviews, which take place in front of a panel of three and last around 35 minutes. Around 12 candidates are then invited to a more extensive second-round interview, which takes the form of a mock client conference. Prior to the interview, candidates will be given a short problem question to prepare and will then deliver advice in conference to members of chambers playing the role of clients and solicitors.

Serle Court is a member of various social mobility programmes, including the Pegasus Access and Support Scheme, the Middle Temple Access scheme, and the Bar Placement Scheme, through all of which mini-pupillages are offered. It is a proud participant in the 10,000 Black Interns Scheme. It also reserves three mini-pupillages a year for candidates from groups that are under-represented at the bar, and guarantees reserved mini-pupils a first-round interview for pupillage.

A day in the life of a trainee (or a few varieties thereof!)

My training comprised three ‘seats’: I spent about three months with each of Dan McCourt Fritz (shortly before he took silk in 2023) and Constance McDonnell KC, followed by an abridged seat of about six weeks with Jonathan Adkin KC.

The flavour and pace of each of my seats varied depending on the nature of my supervisor’s practice at that point in time. There was certainly no dearth of variety: the cases that I was involved with variously raised issues of contract, tort, trusts, company, IP and probate law, among others. All of the work that I did was on live disputes, save for a few pieces of specialist drafting that one of my supervisors kindly asked me to undertake so that I might have the benefit of that experience (and her valuable feedback!)

I was delighted to assist with two trials and a number of interlocutory hearings during my training. On a typical day in the lead up to trial I would draft the skeleton argument, prepare cross-examination notes and/or research points of law to feed into the submissions. During trial I would attend the hearing, observe conferences with the client before and after court, assist with continuing preparations for cross-examination and the drafting of closing submissions. In other words, I was very much treated like a member of the counsel team.

Apart from hearing-related work which might take up all day if it concerned a trial or particularly heavy application, I would usually divide my time between a few cases each day and undertake a mixture of legal research, drafting and/or assisting with preparations for advising in conference (colloquially called a ‘con’). On a typical day leading up to a con I would read the solicitor’s instructions and accompanying papers, research the relevant issues, have a discussion with my supervisor about the issues and attend the con. I would spend the rest of the day either conducting legal research or drafting documents such as pleadings. These tasks sometimes followed on from the con but often concerned unrelated cases that involved different areas of law. This meant that I became adept at quickly transitioning from one case to another several times a day, as needed – an important skill for practice.

I also attended three mediations during my training. In two of these, I shadowed my supervisor in their role as counsel to one of the parties to the mediation and in the third I shadowed our Head of Chambers, Elizabeth Jones KC, in her role as mediator of a dispute between two pharmaceutical companies. All three were fascinating and instructive experiences. Again, I was treated as a member of the team and valued the opportunity to assist by producing analyses of various offers and drafting settlement agreements. The opportunity to shadow the mediator provided unique insight into how the process works from their perspective, which is valuable knowledge to have in preparation for guiding clients through the process of mediation in due course. My supervisors always provided clear and detailed feedback on each piece of work. Indeed, throughout my training I was amazed by the amount of time and effort that each of them poured into teaching me.

My working hours were fairly regular and usually ran from 9am to 6pm. I did work longer hours on occasion but only ever of my own volition. I was never asked (not even implicitly) to work late and my supervisors actively advised against it.

The atmosphere at Serle Court

I very much enjoyed getting to know the barristers and members of staff at Serle Court during the course of my training and was delighted to discover that its reputation for being a welcoming and friendly place to work is thoroughly well-deserved. The pupils and I were always invited to Chambers social events including the weekly drinks, the Christmas party and numerous other events throughout the year. I felt that we were treated like we were part of Serle Court from the outset and was struck by the genuine interest that everyone showed in getting to know us.

Life as a junior tenant

In addition to being thoroughly enjoyable and challenging (in a good way), my training stood me in excellent stead in my first few months as a junior tenant at Serle Court. The work continued to be interesting and varied, and there were plenty of opportunities for oral advocacy early on. The friendly and supportive atmosphere within Serle Court played a big part in making the early years of my practice enjoyable.