What does Chambers & Partners Student Guide say about pupillage at 3SI?
See below for the latest report on pupillage at 3 Serjeants' Inn from leading guide to the legal profession, Chambers & Partners Student Guide 2007. To see more chambers reports you can visit Chambers & Partners website here.
"Situated in an old bank on Fleet Street, flanking the Temple, No. 3 Serjeants’ Inn is somewhere between a boutique hotel and a movie set. Yet the grandeur of the premises belies the set’s history, ethos and personality. Established as recently as 1974, this is a young set with a somewhat pioneering spirit. Chambers is best known for its medical law practice, an area where it has a wealth of quality advocates covering both claimant and defendant work, the latter for NHS trusts, private hospitals and their insurers, as well as medical defence bodies. Members have been instructed in almost every headline-grabbing case of recent times: Bland (the separation of conjoined twins), Sidaway (extent of a doctor’s duty to inform patients prior to gaining consent) as well as the public inquiries into Harold Shipman and the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
"Despite the obvious “dedication and passion” barristers have for their work, we reckon 3SI has an opportunistic streak. Its dominance of the medical field was borne out of a determination to exploit the emerging clinical negligence market in the 1980s. The work has unsurprisingly broadened in scope and now incorporates all manner of advice on clinical issues and the healthcare profession generally. Disciplinary proceedings brought by the General Medical Council (GMC) and other professional bodies are a key source of work. For example, one of the set’s QCs recently helped Professor Sir Roy Meadow successfully appeal a GMC ruling that he should be struck off the medical register. You may recall that Meadow’s evidence was instrumental in the wrongful murder conviction of three innocent mothers, including solicitor Sally Clarke who served three years of a life sentence.
According to one junior source: “It takes a while to get going on medical stuff and it’s likely you’ll get experience in other things first, such as PI, which is related in terms of the damages.” This hadn’t alarmed our source: “Chambers know what they’re doing; the clerks have lots of experience in nurturing people’s practices. I have had a gradual introduction but I am entirely happy with the way things are developing.” At the moment we would suggest paying serious attention to chambers’ police law group, which is one of the best around. Acting mainly for police authorities, barristers defend civil actions brought against the police, work on judicial reviews and disciplinary proceedings, and assist the police in obtaining ASBOs or orders for the closure of crack dens. The headcount of experts in this area continues to grow and it is now a major source of revenue. 2006 has also been a good year for the set’s employment practitioners with the establishment of a formal practice group. The other string to chambers’ bow is construction law.
"It is almost an understatement to say that pupillage is taken seriously here. The year is divided into three periods of four months so that pupils can try their hand at each of the main practice areas. Particular interests can be accommodated and there is dialogue between pupils and the pupillage committee before a new supervisor is chosen. The sales pitch is that chambers offers “a combination of interesting, paper-based work that can be technically challenging, balanced with a good amount of court work. This place is perfect for anybody who wants to work with human clients but doesn’t want to dirty their fingers with crime.”
"Drafting skills are a cornerstone of civil practice and a great deal of attention is paid to developing the quality and style of pupils’ opinion writing and pleadings. All paperwork undertaken during pupillage is assessed in the sense that “everything is formally written down and fed back to the pupils. It is also used to help make the final tenancy decision.” Pupils are additionally reminded that being self-critical will better prepare them for when they are out on their own. “You are encouraged to think about better, more efficient ways of working,” perhaps utilising chronologies and spreadsheets more or “being more creative in how you approach things.” A formal in-house programme of advocacy assessment has been running for the past two years and is split into two parts. “For each session we have three members of chambers including a junior and a senior who are involved and give us feedback.” A typical assessment might involve a basic trip-and-slip case.
"Long hours are discouraged in the early stages by applying a strict 9am to 6pm policy. As soon as pupils get on their feet in the second six this changes and 12-hour days and weekend work are not unusual. As you may be aware, it is increasingly difficult for civil pupils to gain good advocacy experience due to a diminution in the amount of small-end work available. To remedy this, chambers ensures that pupils undertake a good amount of magistrates’ court appearances. This work is available because of the special efforts made by senior clerk Nick Salt, who maintains contact with criminal sets willing to pass on small instructions. Recalling the start of the second six, one source told us: “It really is a baptism of fire but once over the initial shock it is fantastic training; it really toughens you up.” As may the travel - don’t always expect to be able to work in or near the capital.
This is a straightforward kind of set with a commitment to keeping pupils apprised of their performance every step of the way. Younger tenants assured us that, as a result, when the tenancy decision is made there are no real surprises. Supporting the idea that the pupillage year is taken seriously, tenancy decisions are left until the autumn. On the one hand this gives pupils the maximum amount of time in which to flourish and prove their credentials; on the other, those pupils who do not get taken on will miss the start of the cycle for applying for third sixes elsewhere. We’re led to believe this is less of a problem than you might think, as chambers is large and busy enough that neither a paucity of work nor space need have an adverse effect on decisions. Those who simply don’t make the grade are usually allowed to squat until they can find another home. In 2006, both pupils were offered tenancy; chambers had not made its 2007 decision by the time we went to press.
"Chambers was remarkably candid in telling us that the calibre of the pupils and tenants on paper has improved greatly since the set was first established. “It is possible that our current silks wouldn’t make it to the first round,” they half-joked. Certainly all the junior members have impressive CVs, many of them educated at Oxbridge, LSE, UCL and the like. Academics alone will not impress the pupillage committee, and candidates must display other desirable qualities to succeed. Members see themselves as having a down-to-earth style that comes from both academic strength and practical mindedness. In truth there are no hard-and-fast rules as to what makes a candidate ideal for this set, so the only advice we can offer is that it is pointless trying to appear a certain way at interview. What you can work on is how you demonstrate your interest in their specific areas of expertise. Unsurprisingly, undertaking a 3SI mini-pupillage is a good idea. Though not formally assessed, a mini pupil’s performance will be taken into account in their application for full pupillage. It may have been a coincidence but all of those we interviewed in chambers had done minis with the set.
They say the chambers that drinks together, stays together (or something along those lines). Pupils appreciate members’ efforts to include them socially, whenever possible, and also appreciate being allocated an ‘aunt’ or ‘uncle’ to act as informal mentor. “It’s nice to have someone you can chat to; they have a different perspective on things. Having someone to turn to who has been through pupillage relatively recently is just another part of the jigsaw.” It is clear that in the junior ranks people genuinely do get on famously and enjoy spending time together outside the work environment. There’s even a group ski trip each winter. The knock-on effect is a self-sustaining support network within chambers for those just starting out on their careers. They way we see it, as good as things are here, all the policies and procedures in the world are no substitute for healthy work relationships."
Copyright, Chambers & Partners Student Guide 2007