Radcliffe Chambers - True Picture

Radcliffe Chambers pupillage review 2026

The Chambers  

Radcliffe Chambers has always prided itself on its breadth of practice, but it’s the likes of private client, insolvency and property that have been and continue to be the set’s core practices. Private client in particular takes a leading role. As head of clerking John Clark highlights, the practice has both the most members and brings in the most with regards to turnover.

But while private client makes up about 30% of the set’s work, insolvency is also a regular fixture, with pensions, property and charities together comprising about 20%. There is, incidentally, “a lot” of work for charity clients (reflected in Radcliffe’s top-tier Chambers UK Bar guide ranking) but this is done “for charitable rates,” so it makes up a smaller proportion of the set’s overall turnover. There are also strong rankings for the likes of traditional Chancery work, pensions and Court of Protection: property and affairs.

“…we used that as a platform and now we’re establishing more of a presence offshore in places like Singapore and the Middle Eastern market.”

As one pupil put it: “The thing that drew me to the set was the social responsibility. There’s a massive emphasis on inclusion and social outreach.” It’s not the only area that Radcliffe is taking great strides either: “About ten years ago Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man were a focus, with some cross-border work in Switzerland and trust havens,” Clark tells us, “then, eight years ago, we picked up secondments in Bermuda and the Caman Islands, so we used that as a platform and now we’re establishing more of a presence offshore in places like Singaporeand the Middle Eastern market.”

There has been growth in terms of headcount too, with “around 50 to 60 applications over the past couple of years” from barristers, but, as Clark is quick to clarify, “we take on very few of those because we have stringent rules and testing.”

On the traditional Chancery side, Robert Pearce KC recently acted as part of a team of lawyers spanning several jurisdictions for the trustees in the Wang litigation, the largest piece of private client and trust litigation in the common law world. While the set’s private client work is well established in the market, Clark sees plenty of opportunity for the growth of commercial matters, which have been something of a focus over the last few years. In one recent case, member Zachary Kell acted for a number of investors in Upham et Ors v HSBC, who sought £1.4 billion from HSBC for alleged fraud in connection to the Eclipse/Disney film finances schemes.

The Pupillage Experience  

Pupillage is split into four three-month stints with as many supervisors, with the work split evenly between traditional and commercial Chancery. Kate Selway, head of pupillage, explains that there has been a concerted effort to ensure rookies work with supervisors covering a range of practices (as many as possible). From the outset, “they try and match your interests with your first seat,” one current pupil told us, “then the next seat was in an area I hadn’t had the chance to look at. They can’t guarantee it, but everything I’ve asked for I’ve received.”

Over the first six months, “I was working mostly on written pieces, a mixture of live and dead work.” Practically, this typically takes the form of drafting anything from skeleton arguments and pleadings to opinions. “I think it was nice doing something alongside the supervisor,” one interviewee said of the training process; “you might get to write a skeleton argument for a hearing you would get to see them do, so you get to see where they do things differently.” Pupils receive feedback on all pieces of written work, and “if you feel like a piece of work didn’t go as well as you wanted, they can give you something similar to work on.”

Even when it comes to assessments, interviewees at the set explained that a premium was placed on training, with the emphasis on feedback moving forward. Formal assessments typically take place between January and March, and they take the form of a written assessment and an oral assessment. The written assessment consists of a skeleton argument and an opinion on the merits of the case: “Ours was on a complex area of trust law,” one pupil told us, “so you learned the principles and then tried to apply them. Then, you spent an hour and a half talking through it, before it’s revealed what the judge actually decided.”

The oral assessment consists of both a mock conference call with a client, advising them on a claim, and then an advocacy exercise on the same set of papers in front of a panel of three members who act as the court: “It’s the first time you’re pretending to be in court, so it’s a forum to make mistakes,” one former pupil told us, “it felt more like a learning opportunity.”

“…you’re building your practice at a manageable pace…”

The idea is “to see if they have reached an appropriate level of competency, to see if they are ready to take on their own work,” Selway explains, with pupils expected to dive into a practising second six. At the start of their third seat, pupils meet for a drink and some food with head of clerking, John Clark, to “look at our aspirations, what we want to focus on, and how much we want to stretch ourselves.”

Over the final period of pupillage, rookies get on their feet “mostly in county court, but also in the High Court with various procedural hearings. Those tended to be shorter than the work with supervisors but are overall good experience.” Each week, pupils do at least one written piece and one hearing, “so you’re building your practice at a manageable pace,” while the rest of the time is spent training: “That’s to ensure pupils are not getting overwhelmed and stressed with the pressures of doing too much too soon,” Clark explains.

The tenancy decision usually comes in late June, where the pupillage committee circulates a document summarising a pupil’s assessments and feedback before the matter goes to a chamber-side vote. As one pupil put it: “If there was something wrong, we would get told,” so “it felt like you weren’t going to get completely caught off-guard.”

Newbies aren’t ever expected to work beyond hours or on weekends. “It’s not a year for you to burn yourself out,” a current pupil told us, so you have “a very good work/life balance, and that is encouraged by everyone.” As well as an emphasis on training, networking is also a key tool for pupils to get acquainted with. External networking events with solicitors and other clients play a part in this, but it’s the internal events that really create a sense of community among members and staff. “I’ve been here 34 years and we still have afternoon tea where everyone is invited,” Clark grins.

The Application Process  

Applications for Radcliffe are submitted via the Rare contextual recruitmentwebsite, in the form of a CV and cover letter. The benefit of this format, according to a current pupil, is that “it feels like it’s more about you and your experiences than other applications.” It’s also something that Kate Selway, head of pupillage, says is “important from an outreach perspective.”

Of course, a base-level commercial awarenessis expected, but chambers strives to ensure candidates get to put their best foot forward, regardless of their career stage: “There are various ways that could come across,” Selway explains; while more mature candidates show that through previous employment “someone in the final year of their law degree might demonstrate that by telling us about a situation they’ve dealt with. They don’t have to show they’ve been involved in the commercial world, but they do need to show the building blocks of commercial awareness, which can be demonstrated by something like a holiday job or a placement - there is no set criteria.”

“It felt more like a conversation than an interrogation!”

“We usually have in excess of 200 applications to read each year,” Selway tells us,a number that gets whittled down to around 40 for the first-round interview. This stage takes a relatively brief 15 minutes and “is all about engaging in debate,” with interviewees typically being asked a set of questions with a commercial element to them. In the past, the set has asked about the extent to which charities should involve themselves in politics. Over the 15 minutes “you speak with all four members of the committee, who have all looked at your CV,” covering past experience, motivations, a legal question and why Radcliffe, “it felt more like a conversation than an interrogation!”

Between eight and 14 candidates are picked for the second interview, which takes place in the afternoon of a one-day mini pupillage, but this round starts before candidates even come into chambers. In advance of the mini pupillage, interviewees are given a short case commentary to prepare, and two hours on the day itself to prepare for the mock interview. The interview is styled like a client conference, with candidates advising their (mock) client on whether their claim will succeed: “We try to test out how candidates will fare dealing with a client, because it helps to evaluate their practical, commercial and legal skills,” Selway explains.

Candidates have to get to grips with the legal issues and what they plan to say to the client in the space of those two hours, but one pupil felt “it was really enjoyable! Because they’re playing these roles, it feels less pressured.” The final part of the interview covers questions about the applicant and an ethics section.