3 Hare Court is committed to providing high-quality training for those wishing to pursue a career at the Bar.

We offer two fully-funded pupillages, each with an award of £65,000. Our aim is to offer all of our pupils tenancy at the end of their pupillage.

Pupillage 2025

Applications are now closed on the Pupillage Gateway for 2025 vacancies.

Please contact our Chambers Manager, Guy Mitchell via our dedicated pupillage email address with any questions.

See also Mini-Pupillages at 3 Hare Court.

Virtual Pupillage Open Evening

The evening featured talks covering pupillage, life at 3 Hare Court and The Bar, mini-pupillage, as well as hints and tips on the application process. Attendees had the chance to hear from members of Chambers of varying seniority as well as recent tenants following completion of their pupillage and our current pupils. If you missed this event you can watch the recording below.

Why apply for pupillage at 3 Hare Court?

3 Hare Court is a ‘top tier’ set and is recommended in the legal directories as a leading chambers for commercial litigation, travel, employment and public law. Members of chambers regularly appear in the most significant cases in these practice areas, acting as advocates in court and tribunal proceedings, arbitrations and inquiries, as well as providing specialist legal advice to clients in the UK and internationally.

Chambers is committed to providing excellent training to ensure that our pupils have the skills, knowledge and judgment to succeed at the modern Bar.

Chambers offers two fully-funded pupillages of 12 months’ duration. Each pupillage carries an award of £65,000. This is normally made up of £55,000 in the first 6 months, and £10,000 in the second 6 months, plus receipts, but Chambers endeavours to be flexible as to the timing of payments as we understand that finance is a concern to all pupils. £10,000 of the award may be drawn down during the Bar Professional Training Course. Chambers also pays for all the compulsory courses which pupils are required to undertake during pupillage.

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Pupillage at 3 Hare Court

Tom Poole KC is the head of pupillage. Chambers’ full-time pupil supervisors are: Katherine Deal KC, Robert Strang, James Hawkins, Asela Wijeyaratne, Ben Channer, Chris Loxton and Rowan Pennington-Benton.

Pupils in Chambers are not in competition with each other. Our aim is to offer all of our pupils tenancy at the end of their pupillage.

The pupillage year is, therefore, designed to equip our pupils with the skills and experience needed to enjoy a successful and fulfilling career at the Bar.

At the start of pupillage, each pupil is assigned a pupil supervisor who will be responsible for their training and supervision for the first two months. Pupils change supervisors every two months. We endeavour to assign pupils to pupil supervisors with differing practices, so that pupils can experience the widest possible range of work. In a typical year, pupils will spend time with up to six separate supervisors.

Pupils spend much of their time drafting pleadings, opinions, skeleton arguments and other documents for their pupil supervisors. In addition, they accompany their pupil supervisors to hearings and conferences, and assist them with legal research or other tasks.

Pupils will experience a broad range of work across all of Chambers’ main practice areas during their first six months in pupillage. In their second six months, pupils can expect to have their own clients and attend court and tribunal hearings multiple times a week.

Pupils have monthly appraisals carried out by their supervisors and a formal assessment at the end of each pupillage ‘seat’.

  • The monthly appraisals involve a review of work undertaken, a discussion about any feedback received from other members of Chambers, and any future action / development required. Pupils are given an opportunity at these meetings to raise any questions they may have about their progress and training in general. In addition, there are informal day to day discussions and feedback, and through observation, supervisors are able to constructively highlight any area where a pupil needs a boost in order to develop and meet the required standards.
  • The formal assessment involves the pupil’s supervisor undertaking a review of the work produced by the pupil over the course of the ‘seat’ and completing an assessment record in which the pupil is graded out of 4 (1 = standard not met; 2 = standard partially met; 3 = standard fully met; and 4 = standard exceeded)  against Chambers’ five key selection criteria: (1) intellectual ability and legal professional skills; (2) impact and advocacy; (3) interpersonal skills; (4) motivation; and (5) temperament. In addition to grading their pupil in the assessment record, the pupil supervisor will provide concise and constructive comments under each criterion. Pupils are given the opportunity to discuss the assessment record with their pupil supervisor, and to record any comments they might have on the document.
  • Through this combination of informal discussion, monthly appraisal and formal assessment, Chambers aims to provide pupils with consistent and transparent guidance on their progress and to maximise their potential to improve during the pupillage process.

Chambers runs a programme of advocacy training during pupillage (the first two sessions of which are not assessed). This involves various mock hearings on the same case, which are tried by senior members of Chambers.

Chambers places an emphasis on business development and self-marketing during pupillage.

Pupils are encouraged to use the knowledge of members, their relationships with clients, and marketing skills to forge their own relationships and ensure their own professional development.

Pupils are encouraged to become involved in contributing to news articles on Chambers’ website and social media platforms and to attend networking events. Pupils are also actively involved in seminars provided by members of Chambers.

In the link below, Rory Turnbull and Nicholas Leah discusses their experience of pupillage at 3 Hare Court

Rory Turnbull’s Pupillage Insight.

Nicholas Leah’s Pupillage Insight.

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The Application and Selection Process

Applications for pupillage are through The Pupillage Gateway. The submission window will open at 12:01(am) on Wednesday 3rd January 2024 and will close at 11:59(pm) on Wednesday 7th February 2024. Shortlisting and invitation to interview normally take place in March.

We look for candidates with a strong academic background, lucidity of expression, strong people skills, and the commitment and energy to succeed in the competitive world of the modern Bar. The purpose of our selection process is to identify pupils who we anticipate will be outstanding candidates to join Chambers as tenants at the end of the year.

We are committed to diversity at the Bar. We especially encourage and welcome applications from women, individuals with Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, those with disabilities and those who are LGBTQ+, as well as those from other groups that tend to be underrepresented in the legal profession.

Chambers takes its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity very seriously and all recruitment decisions are made in accordance with our Equality and Diversity Policy. In relation to pupillage applications:

  • Candidates’ applications are assessed and scored strictly by reference to defined objective and fair criteria.
  • Applications are blind marked at the sifting stage, with only the candidate’s number (each candidate is allocated a number) being visible to the assessor. The assessor does not know any of the candidate’s personal information that would identify sex, gender identity, age, ethnicity, or other protected characteristics, save insofar as such information is disclosed by the candidate in their answers to any questions.
  • At the interview stage, candidates’ performances are again assessed and scored strictly by reference to defined objective and fair criteria.
  • Members involved in the selection process are trained in fair recruitment and selection processes.
  • Chambers collects and reviews anonymised diversity data for pupillage applications through to offers and such data informs Chambers’ ongoing efforts to attract and encourage applicants from groups that are underrepresented at the Bar.

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Selection for Tenancy

Tenancy decisions are normally made after about 9 months of pupillage – around the middle of July. These decisions are taken by Chambers as a whole and are based principally on the considered views of the pupil supervisors (including the pupil supervisors’ conclusions as captured in the formal assessments completed at the end of each pupillage ‘seat’).

As above, when selecting tenants, we look for evidence of ability in the following areas:

  • Intellectual ability and legal professional skills.
  • Impact and advocacy.
  • Interpersonal skills.
  • Motivation.
  • Temperament.

Successful applicants will need to demonstrate the ability to identify, analyse and argue the salient points, produce good written work, cope under pressure, and develop a strong practice.

It is our normal practice to recruit junior tenants from those who have undertaken pupillage in Chambers, and we have an excellent record of offering tenancies to our pupils.

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Early years of practice

We recognise that securing tenancy is just the start of a career at the Bar. Chambers, therefore, strives to support junior tenants and their practices in the first few years. One of the key ways we do this is by offering a very favourable rent structure for the first years of practice.

Chambers also works to ensure that junior tenants receive a fair allocation of work and are supported in the development of a practice in their preferred areas of work. New tenants are likely to be well paid from their first months of practice and will accumulate experience of a broad range of civil and commercial work.

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Third Six Pupillages

It is not our usual practice to offer third six pupillages, either to existing pupils, or those looking to move from other sets. However, if Chambers is actively seeking to recruit third six pupils, vacancies will normally be advertised on the Bar Council’s third six pupillage vacancies page.

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Wellbeing and Mentoring

We understand that pupillage can be stressful. To help our pupils Chambers has a mentoring scheme in place. Each year an experienced pupillage supervisor steps outside the pupil training programme and is available for pupils to speak to on an entirely confidential basis. This enables pupils to speak freely about any problems or issues they may be having, so that they can be resolved as swiftly as possible.

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Accessibility and Further Information

Chambers will make all reasonable adjustments to accommodate applicants. If you have any particular concerns or requirements about access of any sort, and/or any queries about pupillage at 3 Hare Court, please contact our Chambers Manager, Guy Mitchell, via our dedicated pupillage email address.

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For Help or Advice…


Please contact us either by telephone: +44 (0)20 7415 7800 or email: clerks@3harecourt.com

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