5 Essex Chambers – 12 Months – September 2027

Pupillage Vacancy Information

About Authorised Education and Training Organisation 

5 Essex Chambers (formerly 5 Essex Court) is a leading public law set specialising in work for police forces, Government departments, and other public authorities, as well as individuals and corporate clients. It was awarded Public Services and Charities Set of the Year 2024 by Legal 500, is a Top Tier Set in Legal 500 and Top Ranked in Chambers and Partners. Chambers remains top-ranked for inquests and inquiries and police law in both leading directories.

Our core areas of work include civil litigation, inquests and public inquiries, judicial review, employment, data protection and information law, and regulatory and disciplinary work. We also conduct a wide variety of operational work for police forces. With seven King's Counsel and 50 juniors (of whom 19 are on the Attorney General's Panels), chambers is regularly instructed in some of the most high-profile and interesting public law work.

Recent matters include the Southport Inquiry, Thirlwall Inquiry, Nottingham Inquiry, Dawn Sturgess Inquiry (Salisbury Novichok poisoning), Post Office Inquiry, Afghanistan Inquiry, Covid-19 Inquiry, Grenfell Inquiry; various terrorism inquiries and inquests including Reading Terror Attack, London Bridge, Fishmonger's Hall, Westminster, and Manchester Arena; and cutting edge police, public law and information law work such as XGY v Chief Constable of Sussex Police and Crown Prosecution Service in the Court of Appeal (advocate immunity and threshold for being a 'victim' for purposes of Articles 2 and 3), G v G in the Supreme Court (interaction between The Hague Convention and Refugee Convention), R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police in the Court of Appeal (on automatic facial recognition), R (L1T FM Holdings UK Limited) v Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Cabinet Office in the Court of Appeal (first case dealing with sanctions under the National Security and Investment Act 2021), R (Maguire) v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool in the Supreme Court (on Article 2 in inquests), AFG v Chief Constable of Dyfed Powys in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (jurisdiction of IPT in relation to search warrants), and Day v Governor of the Cayman Islands in the Privy Council (equal marriage and civil partnership rights). 5 Essex Chambers moved into newly refurbished premises in Gray's Inn in November 2023.

Structure of Pupillage

Pupils will have three four-month seats during pupillage to ensure they gain experience of the full range of chambers' work. Pupils will be on their feet in their second six, generally in the magistrates' courts, Crown Court, County Court and Coroners’ Courts.

Financial and Other Support Available

Chambers offers a pupillage award totalling £80,000, made up of £50,000 in grant in first six and £30,000 in guaranteed earnings in second six. Chambers will consider up to £10,000 early drawdown from the pupillage grant.

Equality Diversity and Inclusion

Chambers is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, and was commended for ED&I in the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2022. 83% of our silks and 41% of our juniors are female; 33% of our silks and 21% of our juniors have BME backgrounds. Applications for pupillage from individuals who are from groups that have been traditionally underrepresented at the Bar are particularly welcomed. There is more information about chambers' approach to ED&I available on our website: https://www.5essex.co.uk/corporate-social-responsibility-csr/equality-diversity-inclusion/. 5 Essex Chambers is committed to transparency and accessibility in the pupillage recruitment process, and we encourage you to review the information on our website (https://www.5essex.co.uk/careers/pupillage/), including our report on last year’s application round. 5 Essex Chambers' new premises are fully wheelchair accessible.

How to Apply

Aspiring barristers are invited to apply to chambers between 5 January 2026 and 22 January 2026 using the Pupillage Gateway application system to search for the relevant Pupillage Vacancy and selecting ‘Apply for this pupillage’. In addition to the standardised Bar Council questionnaire, candidates will be asked to respond to the following questions from Chambers:

1. Why do you want to be a barrister? (150 words)

2. Why do you want to practise in 5 Essex Chambers’ core practice areas? (150 words)

3. Apart from the types of work that we undertake, why do you want to join 5 Essex Chambers? (150 words)

4. Describe a time when you had to persuade someone into a course of action through oral or written advocacy. Explain what made your advocacy effective. (150 words)

5. Please summarise your experience of advocacy to date. (200 words)

Following a paper sift, chambers will then invite approximately 35 successful candidates to a first-round interview. Approximately twelve candidates will be invited to a second-round interview. Chambers will offer two pupillages to start in 2027. We are likely also to make up to three reserve offers.