Life as a Junior Tenant
Your professional life as a member of Blackstone Chambers will be an attractive one. You will work hard, but you will be your own boss. We enjoy our professional lives and work in a friendly atmosphere. We work as individuals although, of course, we have many common interests as members of the Chambers. However, you will not be a mere number in a vast office. You are responsible for your own work but you should feel free to consult with your colleagues and to draw on the collective expertise of Chambers. You should never be just one brick in a pyramid of delegated work.
As a junior tenant you can expect a broad mix of advisory and advocacy work. At the more junior end of Chambers there is County Court and employment tribunal work, and even very occasionally some Magistrates Court work. You will also find yourself involved in High Court litigation from an early stage in your career, in particular dealing with interlocutory applications. You will also be instructed as a Junior assisting a Silk in larger cases and in advisory work. We place a very heavy emphasis on giving our junior barristers a range of experience from covering their own smaller cases to assisting on large cases. You will certainly have a varied and stimulating life.
It is our experience that our junior tenants very soon begin to make a good living at the Bar. Of course, the earnings of individual barristers do vary. However, within a short time of commencing practice the earnings of junior tenants in these Chambers are certainly comparable to those of assistant solicitors of comparable length of experience. Over time, we are confident that your income will stand favourable comparison with that of any other professional person.
Chambers' expenses, including rent, are shared between members of Chambers in proportion to their receipts in the previous year. The Chambers' financial year commences at the beginning of April. Accordingly, and on the basis of a tenancy commencing in October, you will pay no Chambers expenses or rent for your first six months in Chambers; in the following year, you will only pay a modest amount proportionate to your receipts in those first six months.
Members of Chambers are fully aware of the financial strains encountered by tenants establishing their careers at the Bar. In order to try to ameliorate any difficulties, Chambers offers new junior tenants an interest free loan of up to £30,000 at the beginning of their first practice year, repayable at the end of 15 months in practice.
Two of our junior tenants have written about their time as a pupil at Blackstone Chambers: