Serle Court - True Picture

Serle Court pupillage review 2026

The Chambers

“You’ve got some strong purely commercial sets, and some strong purely Chancery sets,” senior practice manager Arron Snipe explains, “We can cover both, which itself is a real strength, but the core of work we do and for which we are so highly regarded lies in the area of overlap between the two, and commercial chancery is a specialism in itself.” Indeed, the set has long prided itself straddling the divide between the Chancery Bar and other areas of commercial law.

For now, the balance of Serle Court’s activity remains weighted towards Chancery law, which generates around two thirds of its work, and the set remains a steady fixture among the top-tier of the Chambers UK Bar guide for both the traditional and commercial Chancery. There are also nods in the likes of charities, civil fraud and partnership. There’s also been particular growth in areas like IP, with the set’s client list including a number of big-name British Brands, notably Peppa Pig (who we hear did not attend court herself).

“We can cover both, which itself is a real strength.”

Looking beyond the UK, Serle Court’s barristers regularly tackle cross-border cases featuring a variety of jurisdictions, with a particular emphasis on the Middle East and the Caribbean. On the traditional Chancery side, Dakis Hagen KC recently instructed for the plaintiff in a trust litigation in Bermuda concerning the validity of five purpose trusts. On the commercial side, Philip Marshall KC acted for the Public Institution for Social Security in Kuwait in a fraud claim for over $800 million arising out of alleged bribery in the banking and investments of the state pension fund.

As for the future, Snipe notes that the set is growing its numbers. This is happening primarily on the commercial law side of the practice, with civil fraud and real estate a particular focus of lateral recruitment. Encouragingly for law students, this expansion could also play out at a more junior level; Zoe O’Sullivan KC, who heads up the set’s pupillage committee, reveals that Serle Court is hoping to increase its annual number of pupillages from three to four.

The Pupillage Experience

Before we get into the nitty gritty of pupillage at Serle Court, those who had already been through the process had some initial words of reassurance: “Chambers is very clear that not getting tenancy would be a failure on theirpart,” one former pupil told us, “it’s not a Hunger Games situation!” While it might be reassuring that you won’t need arena-combat skills, what can prospective pupils expect?

Pupillage at Serle Court is split into four seats of three months apiece. “In the first three seats, you spend time with one supervisor per seat,” a current pupil explained, “the idea is that your supervisors do different types of work, so over the course of pupillage, you’re exposed to a wide range of practice areas.” This generally includes those which O’Sullivan describes as “our core practice areas,” namely: “civil fraud, company and commercial disputes, trust and private client, insolvency, property, etc.”

Day to day, one former pupil explained that “this could mean drafting pleadings, doing research, preparing for client conferences or advocacy exercises. Some supervisors also had you do skeleton arguments or write lists of questions for conferences.” Some dead work is occasionally set as a training exercise, but the amount of live work available is described as: “one of the nicest surprises about pupillage.”

A typical workday is 9am to 6pm, with “a proper lunch break” and the chance to work from home if agreed with a supervisor. It's fully expected – and indeed encouraged – for pupils to take a little time to settle into the role. O’Sullivan observes that: “a common early mistake is rushing work to impress, which often results in superficial analysis. Supervisors tend to advise pupils to slow down and focus on depth, and pupils usually respond well to that.”

“…you still get a lot of court experience by going to hearings with your supervisors, which isn’t a given at some commercial or chancery sets.”

Once pupils have found their feet, they’ll encounter new challenges and opportunities in the later stages of the pupillage. It should be noted that, unlike at some chambers, the second six of Serle’s pupillage is non-practising. Nonetheless, a current pupil is keen to stress that, even if you won’t get on your feet before a judge, “you still get a lot of court experience by going to hearings with your supervisors, which isn’t a given at some commercial or chancery sets.”

By the time a pupil reaches their fourth seat, there is room for pupils to follow their individual preferences beyond their assigned supervisor, particularly amidst some of the set’s more niche specialisms. “You're encouraged to express an interest in particular areas, and people will try to give you relevant work accordingly,” one pupil told us. The flexibility at this stage also allows pupils to take advantage of any special opportunities that come up. For example, one source tells us that they “know someone in their fourth seat who ended up working with someone doing a Supreme Court case.”

Although Serle Court is keen for all its pupils to obtain tenancy, there are some hoops to jump through first. Chief among these are two advocacy assessments conducted in February and either April or May, in which pupils make a submission to a mock court hearing: “The members of Chambers acting as judges are told to behave like real judges, not just be nice because you're part of Chambers,” one former pupil explained, while maintaining that the experience was more helpful than stressful. Combined with supervisor reports, the results of these assessments feed into the tenancy decision, which is made nine months into the process.

“What matters is whether the pupil has taken on board the feedback and shown growth,” O’Sullivan explains, “the tenancy committee reviews all supervisor reports and any additional feedback from other members of chambers the pupil may have worked with. A recommendation is made and usually accepted, though chambers as a whole does vote on all admissions.”

The Application Process

With 200 applicants for Serle Court’s trio of places, competition is naturally stiff. These applications are made online through the Pupillage Gateway, winnowed down to 40 candidates who receive a first-round interview (alongside the recipients of three mini-pupillages reserved for candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds), and then a dozen or so who are invited for a second. The process also includes a multiple-choice situational judgement test designed to probe applicants’ soft skills. “If you perform really well on the SJT, it can positively influence your application,” O’Sullivan tells us, “but if you perform badly, it doesn’t harm you. It’s designed to give people a chance they might not otherwise get. And actually, some of our best interviewees have come through this route.”

Each interview includes a pre-prepared scenario, where candidates are given 30 minutes to prepare a short conference-based advocacy task. “We’re not looking for legal expertise — the problems aren’t legally complex — because we want the process to be accessible to people with a wide range of legal training, from PhDs to people in the early stages of a law conversion,” O’Sullivan adds. The interviews also involve typical behavioural questions, such as how you dealt with a difficult situation or person, and “a short spontaneous reasoning exercise, such as a debate on a topical issue. For example, should medical workers have the unfettered right to strike?”

“…you’re told in advance what to expect in the interviews — not just, ‘oh, you’ll be doing a problem question,’ but actual detail.”

A distinctive feature of Serle Court’s application procedure is its openness: “The process was probably the most transparent of any set I applied to,” a pupil told us, as “you’re told in advance what to expect in the interviews — not just, ‘oh, you’ll be doing a problem question,’ but actual detail.” This transparency extends to the mark schemes, which are made available online. “I’d never heard of a set actually giving you that in advance,” the pupil enthused, advising all interviewees to study it carefully. The interview questions are standardised and repeated for all candidates, ensuring you won’t be disadvantaged by the luck of the draw.

Although the set thus aims for its process to be reliable and clear in advance, it doesn’t want applicants to be similarly predictable. The most important thing, O’Sullivan tells us, is to narrow your focus in applications: “If you’re applying to criminal, family and chancery sets all at once, it’s unlikely to work.” This is echoed by Snipe who notes that it’s essential to: “be as clear as you can about what you want to do. If you’re going to apply here, you need to know that you want to do commercial chancery work.”

“We’re all quite geeky — we really enjoy the law and love discussing it, even across practice areas. No one is too grand or formal!”

“People genuinely look out for each other,” O’Sullivan reports, “it’s a culture where you can ask for help without judgement.” Individual barristers meet for informal lunches and drinks relatively frequently, alongside a chambers-wide summer party and regular client events. As one former pupil put it: “We’re all quite geeky — we really enjoy the law and love discussing it, even across practice areas. No one is too grand or formal!”