The Legal Cheek View
Property law might have a reputation for being dry, but nobody told Tanfield Chambers. This is a set that has made its name in the field and shows no sign of slowing down. Business law expertise has been on the rise too, alongside private client and tax, so Tanfield barristers find themselves leading on Building Safety Act litigation one minute and getting stuck into insolvency and company law briefs the next. With particular strength in real estate litigation, members take on some of the biggest cases this area has to offer. Made up of 56 barristers, including six KCs, Tanfield is a set with its eye on growth, offering up to three pupillage spots each year. If business and especially property law appeals to you, this should be near the top of your list.
And if property law doesn’t appeal to you, think again. Cases here increasingly fold in commercial law, tax, and insolvency, and there’s far more to property than you might guess. As one tenant puts it, “people (and lawyers) who think property law is dry and boring have simply not spent long enough learning about it, researching it, teaching it, talking about it, pleading it and arguing it in court”. Another member adds that they “find [property law] really interesting and every day presents a different challenge”. Changed your mind yet? Maybe this will do it. One member reckons it is the “best job in the world save for being Bruce Springsteen and I could not want a better place in which to work”.
Whilst land law isn’t always the most popular subject amongst law students, practising property law is a very different beast to the academic version. Tenants are keen to stress how interesting the work is, on both a factual and a legal level. Sources say they handle matters ranging from lease disputes to property damage, development issues to trusts of land. One day the case might involve an aristocratic estate, the next it’s Grenfell-style litigation. Whatever the issue, if it touches property, Tanfield will have someone who can jump on it.
Barristers here represent everyone, “from local authority tenants to CEOs of multinational corporations” as one insider notes. There’s often a real “sense of responsibility” too, because the outcome of a case can have an enormous impact on someone’s life. Take possession work, which juniors are routinely involved in, and which can see people evicted from their homes.
On the legal interest front, insiders tell us property work offers “constant intellectual engagement”. As one barrister explains, “property law is endlessly interesting, and often a case can turn on a small point of construction”. For law students who’ve enjoyed technical analysis, this could be the perfect fit. It is certainly not for the faint of heart. One junior sums it up as “a very technical but very satisfying area to work in”, whilst another agrees it is “difficult and time-consuming but almost never boring”.
Given their reputation in the market, Tanfield’s barristers regularly land some of the biggest cases in property law. Recent highlights include a Technology and Construction Court ruling at the cutting edge of the Building Safety Act, untangling whether a building liability order can be founded on an adjudication and whether such orders can be made in anticipation. Big-name cases in recent years also include a $1.2 billion bankruptcy appeal in the Court of Appeal and a Supreme Court decision wrestling with the thorny issues of breach of fiduciary duties, the calculation of equitable compensation, and the exclusion of unpaid vendor’s liens. A number of tenants have also taken on judicial duties over the last few years.
Whilst property is the jewel in Tanfield’s crown, plenty of other practice areas keep tenants busy. Banking and finance, professional negligence, and commercial disputes are all growing, as are insolvency and agriculture and rural land law. Some tenants work in completely different fields, such as matrimonial finance and tax. Property remains at the crux of the set, though, so any aspiring pupil should have a desire to build a career with a property focus.
Given that focus, it’s perhaps no surprise that Tanfield’s own premises have just had a luxury revamp and renovation. That comes alongside an all-new software setup, meaning members “can now work from anywhere with instant access to our documents and files”. Even better, the outsourced IT support is said to be “quick to respond and effective in finding appropriate solutions”. Doubling down on the tech, each new pupil now gets a laptop and screen from the set, plus access to all the key legal publications a new property pupil could want.
In fact, chambers seems to be suffering a little from its own success. Tanfield’s tech revolution was so good that barristers are working from home much more, which means the social life isn’t quite what it once was. “Pretty good, but I’m an old fart so I don’t get invited out to the pub much any more” admitted one seasoned tenant when quizzed on the social scene. Juniors are optimistic things are picking up, with “regular drinks and junior junior curries” on the cards. There are also rumours of an annual pupil social, where incoming, current, and former pupils get together for some chambers-endorsed fun.
Old fart or not, everyone at Tanfield is said to foster a “collegiate atmosphere”. “We all try to support each other with both our work and issues that arise in the course of practice” notes one member. Juniors describe it as “a strong group” with “lots of people who go out of their way to provide time, advice, and support when you have a tricky legal problem”. Even when people aren’t coming in, that support flows over Microsoft Teams. The collegiality carries through to Tanfield’s run of annual conferences, including a “junior property conference” that is entirely chaired and run by the set’s junior barristers and aimed squarely at their junior solicitor counterparts.
Work-life balance is, inevitably, a struggle at the bar. As one junior puts it, “I work very long hours but that is the job”. Another describes the “usual tightrope between maintaining a good practice and sleep”. The balance does appear to be better at Tanfield than at many leading sets, though. One tenant confides that they “have plenty of work, but I also get to collect my children from school most days” and that they are “very happy with the balance at Tanfield”. There’s said to be an “open attitude to people’s lives”, and priorities are clearly reflected in the tailored approach the set takes to each individual’s practice. We’re also told the clerking team is “acutely aware of the need to make sure we work hard and make time for our families”. As one sage member puts it, “you can do as much work as you want, but there is not too much pressure to take on work if you have other commitments”. We even hear that pupils are forbidden from working in chambers beyond 6pm.
Speaking of pupillage, those lucky enough to secure it can expect to sit with three supervisors over the course of the year, giving them a proper range of work. During the first six, the focus is on sharpening skills such as opinion writing, alongside observing supervisors and other members in court. In the second six, you can expect to be on your feet, taking on small cases such as possession work. One junior tells us that “practising second-six is a great way to cut your teeth while still having the support of your supervisor”. The training is generally highly rated, with past pupils saying it “set them up well” for tenancy. On top of an internal training programme, rookies see all their compulsory pupillage training courses paid for by chambers.
Those considering applying should do so through the pupillage gateway. Application forms are anonymised and marked, with around 20 of the highest-scoring candidates invited to interview. The interview comes in two parts. First, a discussion and analysis of a legal problem handed to candidates 30 minutes beforehand. Second, a competency-based interview covering competency, situational, biographical, and ethical questions. The whole thing lasts around an hour, and Tanfield is clear that prospective pupils whose first degree isn’t in law won’t be disadvantaged by the first part. The roughly five highest-scoring candidates from interview are then sent an exercise involving legal research and an opinion, which forms the basis of a short, structured final interview. Pupillage offers follow, each coming with a generous award of £80,000.
When it comes to recruitment, Tanfield’s policy is to take on rookies only where there’s a “realistic prospect” of tenancy. The result? 100% of pupils have been kept on over the last five years, stats impressive enough to make any law firm or chambers jealous.
Tanfield states that it considers all pupillage applications on merit, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or any other protected characteristic. The set is looking for candidates who can demonstrate skills such as intellectual achievement and effective communication, with the full criteria set out on its website.