Monckton Chambers chucks an extra £5,000 at its junior legal talent
A renowned London set specialising in EU law has boosted its pupillage award to £65,000, as Britain readies itself for a vote on Brexit this summer.
Monckton Chambers — which offers two pupillage positions annually — confirmed that its financial award would be upped by £5,000, for those commencing pupillage in 2017.
Nestled in the heart of historic legal London, Monckton has joined a host of elite sets that have recently upped pupil pay packets to the coveted £65,000 level.
Just last month commercial and public law set Blackstone Chambers increased its cash offering to its young legal talent, unveiling a £5,000 increase to £65,000. And just before Christmas, high-end commercial and employment outfit 11KBW confirmed a £10,000 cash injection to its pupillage award, taking final pay packets up to the £65,000 benchmark.
According to Legal Cheek’s Chambers Most List there are now 14 sets that offer their pupils £65,000.
Beyond this cluster of chambers, there are now only two sets at the bar of England and Wales that offer their pupils more cash. Common law set 2 Temple Gardens now stumps up £67,500 for each of its three pupils. However, back in September 2015 leading construction outfit Atkin Chambers rocketed to the top of the remuneration table, when it revealed a pupillage award of £72,500.
But these are uncertain times for those working within EU law.
Speaking at an anti-Brexit event held by pro-EU lawyers earlier this month, Anneli Howard — who is a tenant at Monckton Chambers — expressed concern that under current rules UK barristers would be unable to appear at Court of Justice proceedings if Britain chose to leave the EU. Potentially triggering a mass exodus of lawyers to Ireland in order to retrain, Howard warned that Britain’s potential influence on European law and precedent could fall by the wayside.
However, if Legal Cheek’s recent poll of over 1000 lawyers and law students is anything to go by, Howard has nothing to worry about. A whopping 75.22% (753) of those who responded wanted Britain to remain within the EU.