Start your career at 7KBW
7KBW welcomes applications for pupillage, mini-pupillage and tenancy from talented and ambitious applicants, regardless of background.
We offer up to three, 12-month pupillages every year.
The pupillage award is £90,000, with the option to draw down up to £30,000.
We are looking for talented and ambitious candidates with the potential to succeed at the Commercial Bar. Successful candidates will have strong analytical and intellectual abilities, determination and resilience, and clear potential as advocates. 7KBW is committed to equality and diversity, and we encourage applications from any candidate meeting this description, regardless of background. For details of our selection criteria, please see here.
7KBW is a member of the Pupillage Gateway application scheme. Applications should be made through the online Pupillage Gateway system by way of completion of an online application form. Applications for pupillages commencing in September 2028 open in January 2027.
If you would like to apply but are unable to do so through the Pupillage Gateway by reason of a disability, please contact the Pupillage Secretary and an alternative but (so far as practicable) equivalent method of applying will be identified which is the most suitable for you and for Chambers.
Applicants who are informed by the BSB that they are exempt from applying for pupillage through the Pupillage Gateway system (for example, established practitioners) are nonetheless asked to apply via the Gateway, in the usual way.
Click here to read our Pupillage Policy in full – for further information about pupillage including the application and interview process.
If you have any questions about how to apply to 7KBW in the future, please contact the Pupillage Secretary (Dave Barnard) on [email protected] or +44 (0)20 7910 8300.
7KBW selects candidates by a two-round interview process. Not all candidates will be interviewed.
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The first-round interview is short (c.10 minutes) and is conducted online via Teams. Candidates will be asked to answer questions based on a problem which they will be sent electronically at a set interval shortly before the commencement of the interview. The problem is not intended to focus on legal knowledge and no research is required to answer the problem.
An example of a typical problem that candidates might be asked to consider at first-round interview is available to view here.
The second-round interview is conducted in person and involves an advocacy exercise and a broader discussion of a candidate’s application and achievements. The advocacy exercise will be sent to candidates approximately one week prior to the interview and candidates will be required to submit a skeleton argument in advance of the interview.
For candidates invited to second-round interview, we hold an informal (and non-compulsory) online session in advance of the interviews to explain more about the process and to answer any questions that candidates may have about it. In this way, we hope to give all candidates the best opportunity to perform to their full potential at interview.
We also encourage applicants to whom we make an offer of pupillage to spend a day or two in Chambers before deciding whether to accept our offer to assist them in making an informed choice.
All candidates are assessed on the basis of the same objective and fair criteria set out below. In relation to each of the five criteria, we identify relevant achievements and qualities that will be considered.
In assessing candidates for pupillage, we are looking for individuals with the potential to become highly-successful commercial barristers. We place particular emphasis on intellectual ability (which will generally be reflected in first-class academic achievement), analytical ability and advocacy.
We do not expect applicants to have any knowledge of commercial law when they apply to us and we recognise that many, in particular non-law graduates, will not have had an opportunity to study the areas of law in which we practise. Nonetheless, successful candidates are likely to have an interest in the combination of legal analysis and practical application offered by practice at the Commercial Bar.
To assist in the assessment process, 7KBW also uses contextual information provided by candidates through a questionnaire that they are asked to complete on submitting their applications. This enables us to take into account a candidate’s background and circumstances, where relevant, in the assessment of that candidate against the criteria set out below.
7KBW is committed to respecting and encouraging equality and diversity in its approach to the assessment of applicants for pupillage. As part of this commitment, we use background information provided by applicants through the Rare Contextual Recruitment System, to allow all candidates to be assessed fairly, whatever their circumstances. Candidates are invited to complete the contextual information questionnaire on submitting their Pupillage Gateway application.
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7KBW places particular emphasis during pupillage on training pupils to become effective commercial barristers. To this end, the work of a pupil is diverse. A significant component will be helping in the preparation of trials and applications, and attending court and arbitrations with your pupil supervisor. You will have the opportunity to see the preparation, in which you will have played a part, put into practice, as well as to observe live advocacy.
Your work as a pupil will also include drafting statements of case, researching the law, writing opinions and attending conferences, where advice is given and cases are discussed with solicitors, clients and expert witnesses. These are all skills a barrister at 7KBW can expect to use throughout their practice, so Chambers takes care to ensure that pupils have the opportunity to develop them during pupillage, with regular feedback on, and discussions of, their own work and exposure to the work of established members of Chambers.
A pupil can expect to sit with four different pupil supervisors in the course of the year, providing the opportunity to see a range of work and approaches. Each pupil supervisor is there to help you to learn and to produce your best work whilst in Chambers, through ongoing supervision and feedback. It is also important that pupils do work for members of Chambers other than their supervisors, so that an informed decision can be made about tenancy. However, your pupil supervisor acts as a gateway, to ensure that demands on you are kept within reasonable bounds and you are not asked to do work without sufficient time to do it properly. We also have active pastoral support for pupils, which remains entirely separate from the assessment process. Chambers wants pupils to succeed and pupillage is approached with that goal.
You will be judged only on ability and your potential as a commercial barrister. We do not set quotas for new tenants each year and there is no competition among pupils for a predetermined number of tenancies. Our aim is for as many of our pupils as possible to succeed and to join Chambers as junior tenants.
Please sign up below for news and updates on pupillage and mini-pupillage at 7KBW including application dates, events and other relevant updates.
Click below to read our Pupillage Policy in full for further information about pupillage including the application and interview process.
For more information please contact our clerks on +44 (0)20 7910 8300 or [email protected]
