About Chambers

Heads of chambers: James Goudie KC and Daniel Stilitz KC

Who we are: 11KBW is renowned for the quality of its barristers, advice and advocacy at all levels of call and across all areas of practice. This consistency is maintained by rigorous selection, a supportive culture and an ethos based on exceptional standards throughout the set.

What we do: Our clients are in-house lawyers and solicitors in private practice in the UK and around the world. We are a leading chambers specialising in employment, public and commercial law. We have expertise in a wide range of areas of law surrounding these fields.

What you’ll do: Please refer to our website for more information. We have a wealth of information in the form of videos and FAQs.

Life as a pupil Raphael Hogarth, pupil (2020-21), 11KBW

I applied to 11KBW because I thought the work sounded interesting. Pupillage quickly provided emphatic confirmation that it is. The year is like an extended album of chambers’ greatest hits, with the bonus that you get to play on each track. If a member of chambers is doing a particularly important, high-profile or interesting case, then there is a good chance that you will be asked to do some work on it.

In my pupillage, I had the chance to work on judicial reviews of the Covid-19 self-isolation rules and the appointment of Dido Harding to NHS Test and Trace, a challenge to the Government’s care homes discharge policy during the first wave of the pandemic, a Privy Council case on gay marriage in Bermuda, an employment tribunal dispute between the former home secretary and the Home Office’s top civil servant, and a Supreme Court appeal on overtime pay. I could not have asked for a more stimulating introduction to chambers’ practice areas.

Most of my work in pupillage was ‘formally assessed’. This means that it was double-marked against a set of assessment criteria, and I knew that it would form part of the evidence base on which chambers ultimately made its tenancy decision. The experience, though, was not very formal at all. There were no artificial time limits, and I asked for more time on several pieces of work that I found difficult. My supervisors also made it clear that it was fine to seek guidance if I got stuck, which I frequently did.

Pupils get a lot of feedback. After each piece of assessed work, the pupil sits down with two members of chambers to discuss it. When I did my first piece of assessed work for my first supervisor, she spent over two hours going through it with me, offering detailed thoughts on how particular sentences and paragraphs might have been crafted differently.

I often think back to her comments in that session, and others, when confronting tricky questions in my own practice now. I have a good jury point, but will I lose the judge’s trust if I make it? Do I deal with this difficult authority upfront or relegate it to a footnote? Will I undermine my primary defence by putting a different one in the alternative? How high should I put a point that my client assures me is rock-solid, but where I doubt the key witness’ account? Practice is a series of thousands of tiny judgements like these, and feedback sessions provide great opportunities to mine members’ experience and intuitions on them.

The process was refreshingly transparent. Because you get oral feedback on every piece of work, you always know how you’re doing. That structured approach to assessment also put me at my ease when getting to know members of chambers in the corridors, at lunch or over coffee. I always knew that I was being assessed on the quality of my work, and not on the quality of my chatter on the way to Pret. Happily, there was plenty of that, and I got to know members across chambers in my pupillage year. Those experiences showed me that, in addition to being a hugely stimulating environment, chambers is a nice workplace, full of nice people.

Diversity and inclusion

Please visit www.11kbw.com/about/equality-csr.

Percentage of female juniors: 31%

Percentage of female silks: 24%

Interview with Second-year tenant, 11KBW

Universities attended and degrees/courses studied

BCL, Oxford
Law LLB, SOAS, University of London.

Describe your journey to pupillage and the bar

I was a solicitor before I transferred to the Bar.

I studied Law at SOAS and trained as a solicitor at Slaughter and May. After qualifying into the firm’s dispute resolution team, I had the opportunity to work on high profile and complex litigation. That is when I realised that I wanted to be a barrister rather than a solicitor – I enjoyed observing oral advocacy and cross examination and wanted the opportunity to do some of that myself.
Between leaving Slaughter and May and undertaking pupillage at 11KBW, I read for the BCL and was a Judicial Assistant at the UK Supreme Court.

Why did you choose 11KBW?

The work at 11KBW is varied and interesting. Members of Chambers are frequently instructed in landmark cases and challenges. The core practice areas are employment and public law, but Chambers does a whole lot of work in between that spectrum, including commercial, procurement and data protection – the variety appealed to me.

I did a three-day assessed mini-pupillage in Spring 2022. (The assessed mini-pupillage is an integral part of the application process although it is now one day rather than three). The mini pupillage was great – I had the chance to do an interesting piece of work and discuss it with two members of Chambers. The discussion mimicked the kind of feedback sessions pupils have for assessed work, which made me feel like I knew what to expect of pupillage. I also enjoyed getting to know members of Chambers in the lunches and various socials – it was clear that Chambers was a nice place, full of nice, friendly and interesting people.

Describe your pupillage experience

My colleague says the pupillage year is like an extended album of Chambers’ greatest hits, with the bonus that you get to play on each track. I agree with that. If a member of Chambers is doing a particularly important, high-profile or interesting case, then there is a good chance that you will be asked to do some work on it. In my pupillage, I worked on proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights on the UK’s failure to investigate alleged Russian interference in UK elections; an arbitration arising out of Cardiff City FC’s failure to pay the transfer fee of Emiliano Sala on time; and an application to the High Court for the first post-Brexit anti-suit injunction enforcing an employee’s right to be sued in England. The work provided a stimulating introduction to Chambers’ practice areas.

The year (prior to the tenancy decision) consists of three three-month rotations. In the first seat, my work was mainly for my supervisor – in the first month, my work was not formally assessed at all, so it was reassuring to know I had the space to make mistakes ‘without the fear of judgement’. It was nice to be eased into the process. In the second and third seats, most of my work was for other members of Chambers. This was formally assessed – i.e. double marked by two separate members of Chambers following a ‘feedback session’ which is a bit like a viva. I was always told at the end of the session whether I had met the tenancy standard, so I always knew where I stood.

My workload was carefully managed by my supervisors throughout the process. There were no artificial time limits and I frequently asked for extensions of time where I felt I needed it.

Tell us about the tenancy selection process at 11KBW

Most pieces of written work during pupillage, and all three advocacy exercises, are ‘formally assessed’. This means they are double-marked against a set of assessment criteria (analysis, judgement, legal research, articulacy, persuasiveness and practice skills). Tenancy is offered based on performance against those criteria only – so there is no feeling that pupils are competing against each other for a spot.

The process is refreshingly transparent. When you get oral feedback on your work, the assessors tell you if the piece or exercise was ‘at standard’ or not so you always know how you’re doing. It is reassuring to know that the decision is based on how you’ve performed rather than anything subjective like whether the pupillage committee or your supervisors like you.

How did you find the transition from pupil to tenant

Given that pupillage is a non-practising year, the transition to tenancy can be challenging, but it helps that Chambers is a supportive place. We have a mentoring system – new tenants are matched with slightly more experienced junior tenants (around 5 to 10 years’ call). My mentor has introduced me to silks in Chambers with whom she has a particularly strong relationship; she has managed to get me instructed alongside her on a high-profile dispute; and she is around for advice when needed. Aside from formal systems, people are generally supportive. I have spent hours bouncing off ideas and discussing legal problems with my former supervisors and others in Chambers.

There is a glut of high-quality work at Chambers which means that new tenants can hit the ground running. There is so much good work in Chambers that there is no feeling that juniors are in competition with one another.

How would you describe the culture of 11KBW?

Chambers is a great place to work. People are friendly and supportive and always open to helping one another work through questions or problems – whether in person or virtually.

The clerks are brilliant – they really respect your preferences and work with you to get the kind of work you want to do.

We have a fortnightly Chambers afternoon tea and a monthly Chambers lunch. A “Fun” committee makes sure that those disposed to organised fun get their fill – in the last year, they have organised clay pigeon shooting, cooking classes, the Christmas party and more.

Do you have any tips for those looking to secure pupillage at KBW?

Treat your application like an advocacy task – get to know our Chambers and understand what we do (check out the information and videos about pupillage on our website), read the criteria, and explain how you meet the criteria by providing evidence of the kind of things you have done outside of your academic life.

What advice would you give to those considering a career at the bar?

You will know that it is competitive to get pupillage – but don’t self-select out of the process.