4 Stone Buildings - True Picture

4 Stone Buildings Pupillage Review 2025

The Chambers

Here at Chambers Student, we always begin by asking what the broad split of a set’s practice is – how much time barristers at the set spend doing what. But for a set like 4 Stone Buildings, it’s not always a straightforward answer: “It’s always tricky to answer questions like that,” second senior clerk, Ryan Tunkel tells us, “some of our bigger trials might be six months long, and when you’re preparing for a long trial, the preparation time might be a year. In the case of insolvency work, by contrast, you might do a self-contained hearing across the road in the ICC and that’s the end of it.” That said, there’s no doubt that 4SB are specialists in commercial chancery work; anything in the realm of civil frauds, commercial contracts, banking and insolvency. Unsurprisingly, the set bags a top-tier Chambers UK Bar ranking for its commercial chancery practice, as well as acknowledgments in company law, financial services, offshore and restructuring/insolvency.

“…a really well-known city firm one week, then a boutique outfit in Manchester the next.”

4 Stone Buildings sits on the slightly smaller end of the scale, with around 40 barristers. There are no separate teams in chambers, so as a pupil, you’ll be sure to experience a bit of everything the set does: “All barristers do the core commercial work, with the company and insolvency aspects flowing from that. The pupil will be exposed to a breadth of work in real time through their four supervisors.” As Tunkel explains, the folks at 4SB can be receiving instructions from “a really well-known city firm one week, then a boutique outfit in Manchester the next.”

Much of the set’s work focuses on things happening overseas, with barristers at 4 Stone Buildings regularly showcasing capabilities in the Caribbean and the Far East. The set’s Dubai conference too is an annual event. While pupils won’t typically attend, there is still plenty of scope to get involved with international work. Among the set’s recent work highlights, two of the set’s members, Richard Hill KC and Gregory Denton-Cox, acted on behalf of VTB Europe in $2billion of claims brought against Mozambique. “This gives you an idea of the reputation of the set, to be called upon for work like this,” Tunkel adds. Elsewhere, Jonathan Crow KC was instructed to represent the Premier League in a dispute with Newcastle United in relation to its planned takeover by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

The Pupillage Experience

Pupils at 4SB spend time in four seats across the two sixes. The first three seats are around three months each and the second six is structured slightly differently – a 14-week period of two seven-week blocks, as tenancy decisions are made in early July. Upon joining, all pupils are given a mentor from the bottom ten years of chambers. As head of the pupillage committee, Andrew de Mestre KC tells us, pupils spend time with four supervisors doing “almost entirely live work.We take the view that pupils are best off doing the work that their supervisors are doing in real time.” The only time a pupil will find themselves working on something that isn’t live, de Mestre tells us, “is if a pupil hasn't had a chance to draft a particular type of document or statement of case, for example, or hasn't seen an important type of application. In that case, we might use an old case to give them experience of a particular type of work.”

“…expectations increase, but that's just to help you, because when you get into practice, that's what it's like.”

According to one former pupil, the only change as pupils progress through their first six into their second is the turnaround on their work: “You'll be given feedback both orally and in writing,” they explained, “I found the feedback very thorough and that doesn't really change. But the expectation increases as to the quality of that work, and the deadlines get a bit shorter.” In this case, the first piece of work they had been given was a skeleton argument for the supreme court: “Initially I was given no deadline, and it took me probably two and a half weeks, but by June, I would be given a week to do something even longer,” they explained, “so expectations increase, but that's just to help you, because when you get into practice, that's what it's like.” Skeleton arguments form a big part of the day to day, but “I also did at least two opinions advising the government, and there are some fascinating public policy issues there, that go beyond the academic questions of law. In addition to that, drafting witness statements and pleadings, particulars of claim and defences.”

At 4 Stone Buildings, the second six is non-practicing. One former pupil explained that this policy allows for pupils “to focus on learning, as well as spending enough time in chambers so that people can assess you adequately.” As Tunkel further highlights, the pupils are trained enough that they can start in October, and he describes the process as “not a yearlong interview. It’s a training period, we want them as much as they want us.”

There are no formal assessments undertaken by pupils: “We think seeing pupils continually improve throughout the year and a continual assessment is better than one or more formal assessments,” says de Mestre. “It is inevitable that at some point in the year, a pupil will probably do a piece of work that is not as good as some of their other bits, and when that happens to be in the form of an assessment, there is so much loaded onto that one piece of work.” No formal assessments also means pupils aren’t distracted from the live work they’re doing. Despite not having a formal ‘grace period’ for mistakes by new pupils, de Mestre explains that “we recognise that when pupils arrive, they aren’t the finished article, some may have only just finished their conversion. It’s the pupils who can take on board the feedback and improve in the areas that we’ve identified that are the most impressive.” When it comes to the tenancy decision, the whole of chambers has a say. One former pupil described the process as “holistic,” as all supervisors work with a pupil for an equal length of time and can all adequately comment on a pupil’s performance.

The Application Process

Prospective pupils interested in pupillage at 4 Stone Buildings apply via the Pupillage Gateway. The application form contains the standard pupillage questions with an extra four or five bespoke questions specifically on 4SB. The general aim of these sorts of questions is to assess how well a candidate can express themselves in writing. According to de Mestre, to really ace these questions, “it’s not a question of what you’ve done in your life, it’s how the things you’ve done provide us with evidence that you’ll be a good barrister.” Basically, don’t just state that you’ve done mooting or work experience, but what you’ve gained from it: “Everything you put on the form, think about why you’re saying it,” he says.

“…it’s how the things you’ve done provide us with evidence that you’ll be a good barrister.”

Each form is read by three people, graded, cross-marked and moderated. Around 30 people are invited to interview after the initial sift of around 180 applicants. Those who make it to the interview stage are instructed to arrive around half an hour early, when they will be presented with a problem question. De Mestre explains that “this is not a test of your legal knowledge. We want to see how you can construct an argument based on the facts.” We are told the best candidates are those who have thought ahead and anticipated any counter arguments, as well as presenting their argument in a slow, careful, logical manner. As one former pupil was quick to point out, there are no shortcuts to a strong application: “I spent the whole of my Christmas during my GDL drafting pupillage applications, rereading them and rewriting them, and trying to make them not just as specific to chambers as possible, but also as compelling and persuasive as possible.”

4 Stone Buildings is relatively small, sitting at around 40 barristers, but the general consensus was that the small head count allows for a closer working relationship between pupils and supervisors, as well as with the clerks: “We have small frequent get-togethers, go for a drink after work, as well as chambers tea and cake every Monday and Wednesday.” The balance of work and time off was praised too, with one former pupil remarking: “I can give you the exact hours a pupil works, as they are so protected! Pupils work 9:30am-6:30pm.” Pupils at 4SB are also strongly discouraged from working evenings and weekends, “which is something that is factored in when assigning you work and deadlines.” Tunkel adds that future pupils will be invited to the summer and Christmas party and “from the moment they’re accepted. From that point, they’re a part of us. It sounds cliché, but it’s one of the perks of being a smaller set.”