5 Essex Court is a civil law set that specialises in
public and administrative law, human rights, public inquiries, information law, employment, regulatory law, personal injury and
healthcare. It is widely acknowledged to be one of the leading sets for inquests, public inquiries and police law.
Chambers’ work is exciting and often high profile with members at all levels involved in the majority of significant cases, public inquiries and inquests involving the police. In the last few years, members of chambers - including pupils - have been, or are, involved in public inquiries such as the
Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse,
the Undercover Policing Inquiry, the
Infected Blood Inquiry and the
Manchester Arena Bombing Inquiry. Members of chambers also regularly appear in legal challenges and appeals touching on matters of significant public interest, including most recently:
R (Maughan) v HM Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire (standard of proof applied at inquests);
Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire (duty of care);
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v DSD (positive duty under Article 3);
Sir Cliff Richard v BBC & Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (privacy); and
R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police (lawfulness of automatic face recognition technology). Recent inquests include those relating to the
Fishmongers’ Hall and
London Bridge terrorist attacks,
Tunisian Shooting,
Carl Sargeant,
Caroline Flack,
Deepcut Barracks and many others.
Junior tenants and pupils appear, alone or led, in a wide range of courts and tribunals, from the Magistrates’ and County Courts to the Supreme Court. Pupils can expect the opportunity to undertake a significant amount of their own work during second six and will receive a minimum of £55,000 during the pupillage year, comprising a £30,000 award (from which a drawdown can be made available) and £25,000 guaranteed earnings. In recent years, the guaranteed earnings figure has always been exceeded.
5 Essex Court prides itself on providing pupils with a supportive, friendly and constructive environment in which to learn and begin their practices. Chambers’ commitment to pupils is reflected in the exceptional retention rate and carefully structured pupillage year. Pupils will benefit from three different supervisors and receive in-house advocacy training, funding for all required courses and a bespoke talks programme provided by members of chambers which is designed to introduce pupils to particular areas of chambers’ practice and to provide guidance for a successful life at the Bar. In recognition of our commitment to pupil training, 5 Essex Court won the award for ‘Best Chambers for Training’ at the inaugural Legal Cheek Award in 2018. We have also been awarded ‘Best Chambers for colleague support’ at the 2020 Legal Cheek Awards.
We seek to make our application process as transparent and fair as possible. All those who are involved in the selection process have undergone training in equality and diversity and fair selection. Each year we publish a detailed report on our pupillage application process, giving details of how we made our selections. Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the report before applying –
click here: 5EC Pupillage Selection Report 2020
Please see our website for further details:
www.5essexcourt.co.uk
Follow us on Twitter:
@pupillages, on Instagram:
@5essexcourt_pupillages and tune in to the
Middle Temple Pupillage Podcast hosted by two of our tenants, Beatrice Collier and Georgina Wolfe.
No prior knowledge or experience of police law is required. There is also no requirement to undertake a mini-pupillage before applying for pupillage, although it is encouraged.
We operate an equal opportunities selection policy for pupils and tenants and particularly encourage applicants from minority groups and groups who are under represented at the Bar. Chambers was recently shortlisted for the LexisNexis Diversity and Inclusion Award.
