Keating Chambers - True Picture

Keating Chambers pupillage review 2025

The Chambers

“It could be buildings, it could be bridges, hospitals, football stadiums, or racing tracks!” leads Keating’s joint-director of clerking Will Shrubsall, it’s fair to say that this construction set does exactly what it says on the tin. “If you can build it, and things can go wrong, we’re involved!” Shrubsall adds. And go wrong they do! He continues, “we once had a dispute on a football stadium because the wrong pitch had been laid after the wrong type of grass had been used. They had to rip it all up and replace it, so it was ready for a Premier League game in seven days.” If you thought that was bad, wait until you hear this next one. Shrubsall explains, “somebody had built a huge bridge – one of the biggest in the world at the time over a huge stretch of water. But instead of using non-porous concrete, they used porous concrete and then started wondering halfway across why the bridge had suddenly started collapsing!”

“Nobody really looks at construction law at university or at school”

Shrubsall admits that the practice can be an oft-underappreciated area of law: “Nobody really looks at construction law at university or at school.” Even a junior quipped that “I had no idea about construction law when I was applying.” Though showing a bit of understanding about the practice upfront is a nice to have, Shrubsall adds that “we’re not looking for construction experts to come in and prove they love construction.” It’s rather “about people coming in with good advocacy and teamwork skills. Those are the things we measure first and they can learn everything about construction after.” And learn they do, as our sources revelled in intricacies and breadth of the industry and practice: “One day you’re learning how to put cladding on a 20-storey building, the next you’re looking at the construction process of a wind turbine.”

Coming as no surprise, Keating’s head of marketing Sarah Sutherland confirms that “95% of our barristers do construction.” And they do it well too, as Keating’s construction work receives top marks from Chambers UK Bar team for its work throughout the practice generally, with particular specialisms in international arbitration and professional negligence. Sutherland adds that “we definitely still want to be recognised as the elite construction set,” but barristers also undertake work in other areas such as procurement and planning. David Thomas KC has worked on many of the most famous infrastructure projects in the world such as the Shard, Wembley Stadium, the Burj Khalifa, and the Hong Kong Macau Bridge, Sarah Hannaford KC recently represented French bank BNP Paribas over a claim brought by an aerospace manufacturer concerning construction delays for a rocket testing facility.

The Pupillage Experience

The structure of pupillage consists of four seats of three months and pupils are given a different supervisor each time to widen their experience of working with members of Chambers. Pupils and juniors emphasised that it’s the first three seats that are most important for the ultimate tenancy decision, as the fourth seat is undertaken post-decision. Though, it’s “by no means a chance to put your feet up” and the final seat instead provides the perfect opportunity to “focus on where you want to develop and to go over anything you’ve been unsure about throughout pupillage.” Career development is at the forefront of the set’s thinking, and Sutherland explains that Keating have a particular knack for “identifying and speaking with barristers about what they want to achieve in the short term and long term.” As such, “we put in place a plan where we look at where pupils and juniors want to be in five years’ time to provide them with a clearer sense of direction.” Shrubsall makes clear that “the pupils and trainees today are the partners and silks of tomorrow. It seems a very old adage, but it's true!”

“In my first few months I was doing little bits of work on some classic housing extensions, the next I was working on massive energy and infrastructure projects in the Middle East!”

During the first six at Keating “there’s a big emphasis on pleadings.” Expect particulars of claims, defences, replies, advices, and smaller research notes to form the bulk of the work here. You “generally don’t do any live work that your supervisor’s doing” rather “you just do dead cases.” To provide a little more clarity on proceedings at this stage, a current junior described: “you do your pleadings and your supervisor will subsequently give you their version. You’ll then compare the two to see what you’ve done really well as well as where you can develop.” Fundamentally, “the first seat is all about learning.” Though the second six is where things start to heat up a little. As one pupil recalled, “in my first few months I was doing little bits of work on some classic housing extensions, the next I was working on massive energy and infrastructure projects in the Middle East!”

Maintaining a focus of measured learning and development, your second and third seats continue to ram home the importance of pleadings in order to “get those nailed so you can do them in your sleep.” Though “you’re also encouraged here to dabble in a bit of procurement law, planning and environment” and there’s plenty of opportunity to explore more niche areas of law. We were also told that as “the reality of the bar now means that barristers do a lot of what is traditionally considered solicitor work,” pupils at Keating get “quite a bit of exposure” to things like drafting witness statements on top of the more practical side of construction applications. With instruction at Keating from top City and high street firms, one pupil felt comforted in that “it’s nice to have some exposure to that before being thrown out in the wild!”

“These are amazing bits of advice and feedback from some quite senior and impressive people!”

In terms of assessment, pupils are required to complete an oral and written piece of work for each seat, which is supplemented by continuous work throughout the year for each supervisor. As head of pupillage Piers Stansfield KC explains, “we put quite a lot of weight on the feedback from supervisors, as for three months they’re seeing all their work.” As a junior tenant pointed out, “your supervisors are looking for your intellectual ability, your written advocacy skills, and your oral advocacy skills.” A tenancy decision is then reached by the Chambers committee based off a culmination of supervisor reports, assessment results, and sometimes feedback from clients. This last bit was particularly said to be “immensely valuable,” as “these are amazing bits of advice and feedback from some quite senior and impressive people!”

This altruistic culture extended to a thriving social scene, with Sutherland highlighting a number of opportunities “to get out the building and form relationships” that “don’t just revolve around work.”For instance, “we have a fortnightly Chambers lunch where a chef comes in and cooks” where “all staff and barristers can come in to enjoy that.” Sutherland adds, “we do the usual dinner events and we also have a rock band that competes in the charity initiative Law Rocks!”

The Application Process

The first part of Keating’s application process consists of a paper sift, with information like gender and education redacted to ensure equality. As one pupil spelled out, “I think Keating’s application process is fairly unique in that it doesn’t ask you and isn’t concerned with specific questions about an area of law or legal experience and so on.” Rather, “they’re much more interested in raw personality and skill, and so the questions are fewer and more direct.” From there, the number of applicants is then whittled down to just over 50 and “applicants are then invited to produce a piece of written work – like giving an advice or a similar kind of task on a set of papers.” Stansfield explains, “we don’t take that many people out of the equation on the basis of the written work,” as 50 candidates will be taken forward to an initial interview run.

The interview typically consists of a non-legal debate topic in which candidates are given 15-20 minutes of preparation in advance of presenting their argument. Stansfield provides a little more detail: “A typical question could be: should athletes be allowed to take performing enhancing drugs?” Though it’s not always confined to a particular area of the law, as your question “could really be anything!” Candidates “can choose whichever side to support” as this part of the process is all about “making their case to give us an idea of their advocacy skills.” Only 12 candidates will then be invited to the final interview stage. At this point, they are asked “mostly questions about the written work they’ve produced,” but it is a good idea to also prepare here for customary legal questions. Overall, A pupil explained that the entire process is “not a test of how brilliant your legal knowledge is.” Instead, “whatit’s really testing is your mastering of the facts” within the specific case you’ve been given in order to be able to show “you can manipulate your argument in the moment and alter your conclusions as questions are coming in.”

“You're not going to succeed by finding some really niche case from the early 60s!”

The golden tickets are then handed out to two successful candidates, and our sources lauded the clarity of the process. “It was all transparent and I think it’s fairest when the process doesn’t presume any prior knowledge on a niche area of law” enthused one pupil. Because of that, just one word of advice: “you're not going to succeed by finding some really niche case from the early 60s!” Keating is always striving to improve the openness of the process and Stansfield explains that there are also “external advisors who come and observe the application process to make sure we’re doing it as fairly as possible.” All in all, “what we’re trying to achieve is a completely fair and transparent process that gives everybody the same chance no matter what their background is.” Stansfield adds that all details of the application process and marking criteria for each stage can be found on the set’s website.