About Chambers
About ChambersHeads of chambers: Tim Ward KC and Phillip Moser KC.
Who we are: Monckton Chambers is a leading set of barristers’ chambers, based in London.
What we do: We practise across a wide range of commercial and civil law, with a particular focus on EU, competition, commercial litigation and arbitration, VAT, other indirect taxes, and public and administrative law.
What we’re looking for: We seek to identify candidates with the skills and potential to be outstanding barristers within our fields of expertise. Candidates with the personal skills to win the trust of clients and judges alike are a quality we are observant of.
What you’ll do: Pupils’ work will include research, drafting opinions and arguments. Pupils will shadow their pupil supervisor as they do research, paperwork and go to court, sharing an office and analysing how they perform their day-to-day tasks.
Diversity and inclusion
Percentage of female juniors: 37%
Percentage of female silks: 17%
Percentage of BAME juniors: 10%
Percentage of BAME silks: 5%
Interview with Alfred Artley, barrister, Monckton Chambers
How did you find the transition from pupil to qualified barrister?
Very welcome: having had a previous career before moving into law, I was 30 by the time I became a tenant so I was delighted finally to be practising. I also think I learned at least as much in my first year in practice as during pupillage in terms of practical litigation skills and managing my practice more generally.
What do you enjoy most about being a barrister?
The cut and thrust of litigation. It is tremendously satisfying to take your opponent’s argument and comprehensively demolish it. I also enjoy the variety of subject matter – I am currently working on disputes relating to subjects as diverse as toys, prisons, pharmaceuticals and offshore financial services. Being self-employed has a lot to recommend it too; I think it would be very strange now to go back to work in a more corporate environment.
What is the most challenging part of being a barrister for you?
Saying no to new instructions. Sometimes a great new case will come in which I cannot take on owing to existing commitments elsewhere, and that is always frustrating. But it is important to remember that there will also be other good opportunities coming down the pipeline in future.
Do you have any advice for aspiring barristers?
Talk to as many people in the profession as possible. Not only will that help you work out which practice area you are best suited to, but you will also get a better sense of what pupillage interview panels may be looking for.
What do you think differentiates Monckton from its competitors?
The quality and nature of the work, at the intersection of public and commercial. As a baby junior I was not sent to toil away on anything tedious, but immediately found myself in the thick of several pieces of high-profile litigation.
What do you think clients are looking for from a modern chambers?
Clients want counsel who are approachable and available, give clear and realistic advice, and fully commit to the matters on which they have accepted instructions.
What issues are driving change at the modern Bar? How do you see Monckton adapting to such change?
Given the economies of scale, there has been a tendency for sets to expand where they have been able to: certainly Monckton has successfully recruited a number of lateral hires in recent years.
What, if any, technology has chambers recently invested in? How has this tech changed the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?
Things have changed very quickly. When I was a pupil I printed everything off and conference calls were on a crackly telephone line. Now my work is entirely paperless and I speak to solicitors via Teams, which is a great improvement. Short hearings are usually remote now too, which is no doubt much more cost effective – but they do always feel somewhat sterile compared to being in court in person.