Hardwicke, 2 Temple Gardens, Littleton and Doughty Street all up their awards
A host of leading chambers have announced that their baby barristers will get a pay rise as pupillage applications open today.
Commercial-slanted multi-specialist set Hardwicke has upped its award by a substantial £10,000 to £55,000, while human rights outfit Doughty Street Chambers takes its pupil remuneration from £35,000 to £40,000.
There is a smaller rise at 2 Temple Gardens, which specialises in commercial and civil work, from £67,500 to £70,000, moving it just below bar top-payer Atkin Chambers. Comprehensive chambers pay information can be found in the Legal Cheek Chambers Most List.
The pay inflation began back in September last year with the news that Littleton Chambers, whose primary expertise lies in employment and commercial law, had ramped up its pupillage award from £55,000 to £67,500.
All the chambers mentioned above are members of, or follow the same timetable as, the Pupillage Gateway, the centralised online application system which opened today and closes on 7 February at 11am.
The January start-date marks a departure from recent years, with the Gateway previously opening at the beginning of April. It has been moved forward so that wannabe barristers will know if they have secured pupillage before committing to the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), which costs nearly £20,000 in London.
According to the Bar Council, pupillage numbers increased in 2015 (the most recent year for which statistics are available), rising to 437 from 397 the previous year. But they remain down on their most recent high of 514 in 2013.
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