Monckton Chambers - True Picture

Monckton Chambers pupillage review 2026

The Chambers

“Funnily enough, part of the reason I applied to the set was because I watched the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021,” a pupil fondly recalled. “Because of the race director’s decision, Lewis Hamilton didn’t win when he should have. His team went mental, ran over to the Stewards’ room and there was the head of Mercedes talking to a KC, who happened to be from Monckton!”

It almost sounds like a fairytale introduction to the set – so much so that we almost started this story off with a ‘once upon a time’ – but, while Monckton’s specialisms may be a thing of legend, they’re certainly no myth. A glance at the Chambers UK Bar guide is enough to give you a flavour of Monckton’s prestige, as the set earns a healthy number of rankings across practices, including competition law, group litigation, European law, public procurement, telecommunications and tax.

“We’ve been involved in the highest proportion of claims in the Competition Tribunal Appeal since the regime began.”

Deputy senior clerk Steven Duffett offers a similar picture of the set’s reputation: “Our three main pillars are competition, commercial and public law, which neatly complement our earlier prowess in EU law. We’re renowned for our dominance in competition litigation, which is backed up by our involvement in the highest proportion of class actions in the Competition Appeal Tribunal since that regime began a decade ago. Our public procurement, tax, human rights, business rights and sports law practices marry up with that.”

This selection of practices has been affected by global trends, with new AI regulations, class actions against big tech companies in the US and strict action from EU regulators all affecting and contributing to the rise in group litigations in the UK. Long story short, according to practice manager James Mower, “we’ve got high-quality work with great clients – that’s all manner of big tech companies, Premier League football clubs and regulatory bodies – and members have access to all of that from the outset.”

For example, Jon Turner KC recently represented Which? in a multimillion-pound group claim at the Competition Appeal Tribunal which alleged that Qualcomm had abused its dominance when supplying Apple and Samsung with smartphone parts at inflated prices. Meanwhile, on the public law side, Tim Ward KC recently led a Supreme Court appeal for Uber Brittania in connection to the legal aspects of its business practices outside London. He has also acted for Sky in an appeal against Ofcom regarding its regulatory power under telecoms legislation.

All this goes to show, according to a junior tenant, that “there’s no shortage of interesting cases across the board.” Balance is the final part of the equation, says Duffett, as “what we don’t want to see is our juniors being sucked into huge cases for many years and, before they know it, they’re five years in and have never done a case in their own right. We have access to a lot of small claims and lower-end commercial work to supplement the bigger work, meaning that juniors can get into court and earn their stripes from the off, while concurrently working on our big-ticket work.”

The Pupillage Experience

Pupils complete four three-month seats, three of which take place before the tenancy decision, and each has a distinct learning focus. Head of pupillage committee Julian Gregory outlines the differences: “The first seat is more of a training seat, where we ease them in and they almost exclusively work for their supervisor. Towards the end of their first seat, they slowly start doing pieces of work for other members of chambers and, by the second, it’s normally a 50-50 split. By the third seat, most of their work will be for other members of chambers.”

Newbies also get to see a mix of practices during this time (with a focus on competition and public law in particular) but pupils noted that “it doesn’t necessarily matter what your supervisor specialises in as they make sure you see a range of practice areas when doing work for other people across chambers.”

“One day I’d look at a competition matter in the Court of Appeal, and the next I’d do a piece of sports law advice for a football league…”

During this time, pupils will try all sorts of tasks, including research notes, pleadings, skeleton arguments and advice. “They vary in difficulty and practice area,” a pupil explained, “and the work you do for your supervisor is slightly less intense. I’d never done competition law before I joined the set, so my first supervisor was fantastic at getting me up to speed.”

Most of the work is live, so pupils get to see what people are currently working on across chambers and can produce work that may ultimately go towards the final product. For one pupil, however, the variety was the real star of the show: “One day I’d look at a competition matter in the Court of Appeal, and the next I’d do a piece of a sports law advice for a football league, before moving onto advising a legal aid agency about a civil claim against the police.”

Pupils receive feedback on all the work they do during pupillage, whether that’s from their supervisor or from other members. This is helpful when monitoring pupils’ progress, and Gregory explains how “we take existing performance into account when considering who to place them with in subsequent seats. If they’re doing fine, we can pair them with someone who’ll stretch them a bit. We might go with an experienced supervisor if they need more hands-on guidance.” This means that all work that pupils produce over the first nine months is assessed, alongside two additional advocacy exercises.

These are both applications, the first of which is with a panel of junior barristers while the second is a panel of KCs, and pupils have a few days to prepare for them. While this may sound nerve-wracking, a pupil was clear that “they’re not there to be horrible. They obviously ask you questions so it’s like presenting in a slightly interventionist court, but you get nice feedback afterwards.” Gregory also assures that “it’s just to make sure that people can stand up in court and do the basics. We know they won’t be brilliant as they haven’t started yet!”

The tenancy decision usually takes places at the nine-month mark, and the committee makes a recommendation to chambers after considering pupils’ feedback and advocacy assessments. Chambers then votes on whether pupils should be kept on, but Gregory says that “it would be unusual for chambers to decide on something very different from the committee.”

Successful pupils will then typically start transitioning to their own work in the final seat and often stay with their third-seat supervisor. For example, one pupil had “already been in court on my own quite a few times already, doing small claims in county courts and the Information Tribunal. I’ve gone from being assessed by other members to doing flight delay claims in court – it’s good!”

“… during pupillage, you’ll work together as pupils rather than competing with one another.”

Of course, pupils still have a support system in place when they start their own work, and one was grateful that “there are juniors who are especially approachable and keep up a vibrant community, but I’ve also been struck by how ‘normal’ lots of very senior members are.” Interviewees had plenty of praise for the culture in general, with many emphasising the openness of chambers and lack of competition. “We’re in a world in which barristers compete against each other in court, but even in all-Monckton trials, everyone wants to see each other succeed,” a junior tenant reflected. “That’s important, and even during pupillage you’ll work together as pupils rather than competing with one another.”

The Application Process

Monckton recruits via the Gateway, and up to 50 candidates make it through the initial sift, so “we get to see a reasonable proportion of people who apply to us,” says Gregory. The first-stage interview focuses on CVs, before discussing a topical news item to test how applicants respond to questioning. To give you a sense of what to expect at this stage, Gregory offers the most recent example: “Could it ever be right for a judicial decision to be made by Artificial Intelligence?”

Around 15 candidates then make it past this stage and are invited to chambers for a two-day mini pupillage. According to Gregory, “we look at their application forms, see what areas of law they’re interested in, and place them with people who do that work. They see some papers, we put on a lunch and anyone in chambers can come down to chat.”

Candidates are given a set of papers to review ahead of the second-stage interview, which is “like a conference where you give advice to clients, but we’re quite difficult clients and challenge their opinions,” according to Gregory. “It’s to see how they respond to slightly more targeted questioning.” Offers are made after this, and Mower explains how “we’ve opened up more pupillage spots than we ever have before. There’s a real appetite to bring bodies into chambers as we’re so busy and need good people.”

So, any final words of advice? “Monckton has a strong competition law practice so it’s amazing if you do love that, but we’re not just a competition law set. The hiring process isn’t about testing people’s love of competition!” a pupil emphasised. Gregory adds to this, pointing out how applicants should, on the Gateway form, “clearly explain why they think they’ll be a good advocate. Obvious examples are mooting and pro bono, but you can draw on broader things, like teaching a class or a public presentation.”