Life as a Pupil

As a pupil at Blackstone Chambers, you will have four pupil supervisors through the year. Pupil supervisors are chosen to ensure that each pupil gets a solid grounding in the core areas of Chambers’ work. Recent supervisors have been experts in areas including commercial, public, employment, financial services, competition, and sports.

Pupillage at Blackstone Chambers is very much a practical, hands-on experience. From your first day with your supervisor you will get stuck into whatever cases your supervisor is instructed on at that moment. The typical work involves doing first drafts of the documents which your pupil supervisor is working on. You will therefore develop a wide experience of drafting pleadings and other court documents, writing skeleton arguments and compiling written advices. You may also be asked to do a first draft of questions to be used in a cross examination, or to prepare opening or closing submissions.

You will also be involved in every step of the advisory and litigation process. Pupils attend conferences with clients, listen in on phone conversations where appropriate, and are encouraged to discuss the strategic, procedural and ethical elements of cases with their supervisors.

The emphasis which we place on the close working relationship between pupil and supervisor means that pupils do not do any additional work for other members of Chambers. You will be able to focus entirely on the cases which you are involved in on a day-to-day basis.

Because Blackstone pupils are exposed to such a wide range of legal areas, the whole year is non-practising, which means that pupils do not take on any of their own paid work during pupillage. On the other hand, we strongly encourage our pupils to take on pro bono cases with FRU or other charities, and we will provide support and ensure that you have the time you need to dedicate to pro bono work.

The Chambers Student Guide 2023 says ""Barristers at Blackstone are formidable and ever-present figures at the Bar. “The quality of the work we do here is so strong,” one pupil told us. “In addition to the breadth of expertise, you’re working on complex, cutting-edge, high-profile cases. ”It has 17 rankings from Chambers UK Bar, ten of which are top-tier. Our colleagues reckon Blackstone’s expertise in administrative and public law, civil liberties and human rights, employment, European law, financial services, civil fraud, media and entertainment, professional discipline, sport, and telecommunications is among the best at the Bar. More than 50 of its members are silks, whose shared expertise spans all areas of commercial, public, regulatory, employment and international law.”