39 Essex Street

Still room at the Inn

In the last eight years 39 Essex Street has mushroomed from 30 to nearly 80 barristers, making it one of the larger London sets. Its broad coverage allows it to adopt a contemporary strategy of not only pursuing its core areas but also “providing connections between them with the aim of being a one-stop shop for clients.” As it fills its airy premises on the western fringe of the Temple, it has already “secured accommodation needs for the next ten years.” Said chambers director Michael Meeson with an acquisitive glint in his eye: “We’re ever-willing to take on new barristers if there’s a business need.”

Many sets advertise broad coverage, few back up the claim as substantially as this one. It has two or more barristers ranked in 16 areas of practice in the latest edition of Chambers UK. The “four genuine trunks of strength” are common law, environmental and planning, commercial/construction law and public law, and 39 also thrives on the areas of crossover. Construction “isn’t just construction, it brings in environment, planning, regulatory, even nuclear work in extension,” while “serving the health industry isn’t only clin neg or PI, it’s professional negligence and commercial work for the NHS or private providers.” Multinational conglomerates like Esso and BP instruct members, as do some 85 local authorities.

Away from commercial and common law practice, chambers takes on some eye-catching human rights, immigration, administrative law and local government instructions and costs litigation. Its commitment to pro bono work is evident in links to the Environmental Law Foundation, FRU and Liberty. Certainly the widow of a British serviceman killed in combat was grateful for help at the coroner’s inquest that established his death was the result of US friendly fire.

Inspire, aspire, perspire

Some 30 support staff ensure chambers is “run like an effective business.” It also means “the pastoral aspects and structure of pupillage are not left to chance.” Indeed, pupils praised an “entirely transparent, well thought-out process” that starts with their being given a detailed pupillage handbook. They sit with four supervisors in the first nine months, typically two each from the fields of public and private law. As a result they are exposed to anything from “enormous VAT disputes” to “redrafting statutes on education matters,” from common law work where “you get to grips with the White Book” to “construction disputes and immigration cases.” Our sources laughed at the absurdity of a pupil “drafting a letter starting Dear Secretary of State,” but were clearly inspired by the prospect of doing so at some later stage. “What’s great about chambers is that wherever tenancy takes you, the future horizons are broad. In none of its areas is chambers half-hearted, and you look up the food chain in any of them and see barristers doing interesting, sexy work.”

First-six supervisors take care that their charges handle pleadings and skeleton arguments, rather than running around as a gopher, researching minor points. Their policing role continues into the second six when everything still has to be “sanctioned by the supervisor.” Second-sixers go to court a couple of times a week on “RTAs and credit hire cases,” with juniors providing support when needed. Pupils love the wealth of advocacy opportunities because it’s all about “developing witness-handling skills, making your mistakes and learning case strategy in a relatively safe environment.” So much so in fact, that we even heard one source utter the words: “I really like going to Slough County Court.” Beyond the commonplace, “more interesting things pop up.” One interviewee recalled “going to the Privy Council, which meant asking a kindly silk where I had to sit.”

No competition

Predictably, feedback is detailed. As well as responses to each piece of work, pupils receive a formal appraisal and written report at the end of each seat, to “flag problems as you go, so you’re not storing up nasty surprises for just before the tenancy decision.” Unusually, the report also deals with the question of how well pupils have maintained their extra-curricular commitments. The reports are central to the tenancy decision, as are up to four written assessments set by a shadow pupillage committee and completed in the second six. Recalling these, a junior told us: “They take a lot of hard work – around a week each. One of them was the most difficult legal problem I’ve ever faced.” The final hurdle is a tough assessed advocacy session in which pupils demonstrate witness-handling and technical skills to the watching panel while “supervisors play witnesses with aplomb.” Pupils say they’re entirely satisfied that “if you meet the objective criteria, you’ll be taken on. We’re not explicitly or quietly in competition with each other.” Perhaps proving this, in 2007 two of the three in contention got tenancy, in 2008 the single pupil was not successful while in 2009 both pupils were.

At the pupillage application stage around 30 people attend a first interview. “You get a case an hour beforehand and are grilled for 20 minutes by a panel of five to assess your legal reasoning.” The 12 who are summoned back to the second round face a milder “more traditional, general CV chat.” Even a brief glance at tenants’ CVs reveals that 39 Essex is genuinely open to people of “all backgrounds, types and skills.” A number arrived from other careers and our sources told us that “brains in a vat just dont cut it here” because “trawling though work paperwork is only half the job – our areas demand broader skills.”

Taking the biscuit

Work-life balance at chambers isn’t so much a vague aim as a rigorously policed policy. Supervisors “aggressively enforce 9am-to-6pm hours” for pupils and encourage a “full hour for lunch.” Someone who initially doubted the curfew recalled: “It was 6.04pm on the first day I tried to stay and my supervisor ejected me.” The set’s concern to show pastoral care is also evident in the willingness of juniors to “make an effort to look after the pupils.” It might mean “post-work drinks together,” a friendly chat at the fortnightly lunch or simply patient forbearance as “you call up for the nth time saying, ‘Aarrgh, I’ve got this tomorrow – how do I do it?’” There’s also a confidential mentoring system, which sees a senior appointed as an additional point of contact for pupils in need of advice, and often this relationship generates work once tenancy is assured. This is a reasonably casual set on the inside: some of the members we met during our visit wore T-shirts and jeans, and they cheerfully dug into a pile of biscuits as we chatted to them about the set’s “positive atmosphere.” While munching away, one reflected: “If I get a complicated, esoteric instruction I have no hesitation in asking anyone about it and I mean anyone.” Pupils are invited to social events, whether it’s the Christmas party for members’ children (dressing as an Elf may be required) or the summer garden party.

And finally...

Breadth of excellence and opportunity define a 39 Essex Street pupillage; go to any length to get one.