The Legal 500 Future Lawyers – Bar Guide  

Welcome to The Legal 500 Future Lawyers Bar Guide.

In this guide, we explore the other side of the legal profession: the fascinating world of the Bar. From procuring a pupillage to being offered tenancy at your chambers of choice, our Bar Guide aims to help you navigate the sought-after (and extremely competitive!) career path of a barrister. 

Who took part? 

The Legal 500 Future Lawyers Bar Survey was sent to pupils and junior barristers up to two years in tenancy at sets and chambers across England and Wales. We were overwhelmed by the response; more than 250 pupils and juniors from over 100 chambers took part! 

The findings 

We asked respondents to rate different aspects of their pupillage, from quality of work to supervisor approachability to work/life balance.

We also asked a number of in-depth questions, such as why pupils had chosen their particular chambers or set and what had been the highlights and challenges of their career so far. 

‘We receive more structured training. In the first six, this involved Civil Procedure Rules sessions three times a week, and in the run up to second six, we were walked through all of the different kinds of hearing we could appear in by junior members once a week’ – pupil at Gatehouse Chambers

Academic background   

The Bar has traditionally been dominated by Oxbridge graduates, and despite the profession becoming under increasing pressure to diversify its pupil intakes, progress up until this point has been relatively slow.  

That said, the percentage of this year’s survey respondents who attended the universities of Oxford or Cambridge at undergraduate level was 34%, down from 40% last year. For context, consider that Oxbridge graduates only account for 1% of UK graduates as a whole.  

69% of respondents attended a Russell Group university (including Oxford and Cambridge), which shows that the Bar still holds the group’s 24 member universities in high esteem.

22% of pupils did their undergraduate degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, whilst 8% of pupils went to an overseas university. 

When it comes to degree subject, 55% of all respondents studied law at undergraduate level, with the other 45% studying non-law subjects, primarily in humanities, social sciences and modern languages.

Ethnicity 

A massive 77% of this year’s respondents described their ethnicity as white.

Only 3% identified as black and 3% as Indian or Pakistani. 5% of respondents identified as mixed race and 2% as Jewish. 

Gender 

Although the Bar can still conjure up images of an ‘Old Boys Club’ at times, thankfully the days of the industry being dominated by men are over. 52% of this year’s survey respondents identified as female, whilst 48% identified as male. 

‘I have not heard of another chambers that is more invested in the success of all of its pupils – Blackstone really sees it as a chambers achievement if all pupils get taken on at the end of the year’ – pupil at Blackstone Chambers

Featured Chambers

Chambers Specialism Location
1 Crown Office Row
1 High Pavement
11KBW
15 Winckley Square
18 St John Street Chambers
187 Chambers
1GC Family Law
2 Bedford Row
2 Harcourt Buildings
2 Hare Court
23 Essex Street
39 Essex Chambers
3DJB
3PB Barristers (3 Paper Buildings)
3TG Barristers
4 Pump Court
4-5 Gray’s Inn Square Barristers Chambers
42BR Barristers
5 Pump Court
5 St Andrew’s Hill
5 Stone Buildings
5RB Barristers
6KBW College Hill
7BR
8 New Square
Atlantic Chambers
Blackstone Chambers
Brick Court
Cornerstone Barristers
Crown Chambers
Deans Court
Dere Street
East Anglian Chambers
Enterprise Chambers
Essex Court
Exchange Chambers
Fenners Chambers
Fountain Court Chambers
Fourteen
Garden Court North
Gatehouse Chambers
Goldsmith Chambers
Hogarth Chambers
Landmark Chambers
Linenhall Chambers
Littleton Chambers
Monckton Chambers
New Square Chambers
Old Square Chambers
One Essex Court
One Pump Court
Pallant Chambers
Park Square Barristers
Pump Court Chambers
Quadrant Chambers
Senate House
Serle Court
St John’s Chambers
St Philips Chambers
Ten Old Square
Wilberforce Chambers