Chambers profile
Wilberforce Chambers is one of the leading commercial chancery sets of chambers in the UK, comprising of 84 specialist barristers, including 35 KCs. Our barristers are involved in some of the most intellectually challenging and legally significant matters undertaken by the Bar today.
Type of work undertaken
Our principle areas of practice are arbitration, commercial litigation, insolvency, pensions, professional liability, property, trusts, tax, probate and estates.
Pupil profile
We look for pupils with high intellectual ability, good communication skills and an interest in commercial chancery work. You should be mature and confident, have the ability to work with others and be able to analyse legal problems well, demonstrating commercial and practical good sense.
Pupillage
Chambers operates a well-structured pupillage programme aimed at providing a broad experience of commercial chancery practice under at least four pupil supervisors with whom you will be able to develop your skills.
We have a minimum requirement of a 2:1 degree in law or another subject and have a track record of taking on GDL students as pupils and tenants — we ensure that our interview process does not disadvantage those who have only recently commenced their legal studies.
We take great care in our selection process to identify candidates who have real potential to join Chambers at the end of their pupillage. Importantly, our pupils are not in competition with one another for a tenancy, but are assessed solely on their own abilities and performance.
All applications must be made through the Pupillage Gateway.
Mini-pupillages
We encourage potential candidates for pupillage to undertake a mini-pupillage in order to learn how chambers operates, to meet its members and to see the type of work that they do — but a mini pupillage is not a prerequisite for pupillage. We run four separate mini-pupillage weeks (two in November/ December, one at Easter and one in July). Please visit our website for further information.
Funding
The award is £85,000 for 12 months and is paid in monthly instalments. A proportion of the award (up to £35,000) can be drawn down during the BPTC year.
Equality and diversity
Wilberforce Chambers is committed to equal opportunities in all aspects of its work. All barristers are committed to observing the Bar Standards Board’s Equality and Diversity Rules of the Code of Conduct in relation to non-discrimination in the acceptance of work, the carrying out of that work and all dealings with clients, colleagues, staff and others. Staff are committed to complying with this policy. It is our policy to treat everyone equally and fairly regardless of their racial group, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, citizenship, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, religion or political persuasion.
Corporate social responsibility
Wilberforce maintains a strong commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Through our Bar Access Programme we are actively involved in outreach and access initiatives to encourage and support people from diverse backgrounds in developing a career at the Bar. An important element of the Bar Access Programme is our on-going partnership with the Sutton Trust (the well-known charitable foundation whose aim is to promote social mobility) through which we support their various initiatives in the legal arena. For example, we continue to run mini-pupillage/placement programmes for their Pathways to Law pupils and Pathways Plus students and a number of our Members are actively involved in a mentoring programme for Sutton Trust students.
We have also built strong relationships with the Legal Social Mobility Partnership, and the Pegasus and Bar Placement (Social Mobility Foundation) programmes, and provide support to the Barristers’ Benevolent Association.
Wilberforce is recognised as a Silver Pro Bono Patron by Advocate. This is a reflection of the organisational support we provide Advocate to help hundreds of people achieve fair and equal access to justice.
Nicholas Luckman, our Practice Director, is a Business Board Member of Support Through Court, a charity dedicated to providing free, independent assistance to people facing proceedings without legal representation.
Wilberforce Chambers is proud to be an accredited London Living Wage employer. This means that all employees are paid at or above a minimum wage which is set annually by the Living Wage Foundation and calculated by the Greater London Authority. The living wage is higher than the minimum wage and calculated according to the basic cost of actually living in London.
In May 2024, The Bar Council awarded Wilberforce Chambers a
Wellbeing Certificate of Recognition for
“invaluable work demonstrating commitment to wellbeing in the barristers’ profession”. The Bar Council remarked,
“Wilberforce Chambers’ continuous work and dedication to wellbeing is very impressive.”We are proud signatories to the
Women in Law Pledge created by the
Bar Council of England and Wales,
The Law Society, and the
Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx). We are committed to the progress of equality, elimination of sex discrimination and pledge to make positive change for the legal profession.
