The Legal Cheek View
Francis Taylor Building is a leading planning and licensing law set. It is home to over 60 members, of whom an impressive 23 are KCs, including two associate and two academic members. It offers two pupillages per year, each with an award of £75,000 (which includes £15,000 guaranteed earnings and £25,000 draw down in the year before pupillage). This public law set has a strong reputation in planning, environment, licensing, compulsory purchase land valuation, major infrastructure projects, local government, religious liberty and ecclesiastical law, highways, commons and open spaces, and ADR. Its members have worked on cases involving everything from new power stations, roads and urban extensions to residential schemes of varying sizes.
This set often takes on cases where the issue is the subject of a fiercely fought public campaign or will have an impact far beyond the parties involved. Recent examples include HS2, Heathrow Airport’s third runway, voter ID disputes, the Manchester Arena Inquiry, the public inquiry of the United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial, the Sizewell C nuclear power plant project, the O2 Academy Brixton, and the Co-op Live Manchester. “Highly specialised and very rewarding” seems, if anything, to be a bit of an understatement! Other vocabulary used by happy tenants to describe their work includes “very varied”, “interesting”, “great”, “high quality and high profile”, “really interesting”, and “always stimulating, challenging and enjoyable.” It’s also perhaps unsurprising to hear that much of the tenants’ work, particularly in the environmental field, focusses on cutting edge legal issues and novel problems facing new legislation.
What’s more, whether you’re looking to work from a comfy office or march around courts, tribunals, and inquiries utilising your mooting and mock trial skills, there’s a bit of everything at FTB. There are “opportunities both for expert and factual witness handling and submissions” that come at a “very early stage of practice”, paired with “a good variety of written work, including interesting and thorny advisory work”.
In a sign of just how engaging the work at the set is right from the off, one tenant tells us “I can honestly say that I have never ever been bored by my work at FTB.”
Whilst work/life balance is never easy, or consistent, at the bar, barristers at FTB seem to find themselves on the better end of the scale. While some members work long and hard, one says this is because they “keep saying ‘yes’ to work because it is so interesting!”, with another adding: “I probably work too hard and for too long, but I am self-employed and have to make hay while the sun shines”. One junior at the set is even lucky enough to say that they “only take on cases that interest me leaving me personal time” — I promise we’re not jealous.
Driving this push for balance is the set’s engine room (the clerks). Described as “the best”, the clerks place “no pressure at all to take on work you are not interested in” and are happy to “back off when you say you have enough on your plate”. In all, this means that “members can control their own workload and practice”, with the clerks working hard behind the scenes to make sure tenants “have the amount of work that they want and are able to do”. The “extremely respectful” team also allow rookies plenty of undisturbed time off when needed or requested.
Back in the office, we hear that members are just as fond of each other as they are of their work. There is an active “open door policy”, with “more senior members of chambers who are experts in their field always happy to discuss tricky legal issues facing junior members.” “I can pick up the phone to or ask anyone of any seniority a question with no concerns” one junior brags, with another adding that their colleagues are simply “excellent”. Even an increase in members working from home hasn’t hampered the sharing and pooling of knowledge and a “thriving” junior WhatsApp and email group. In short, one jolly junior says, the set is “a lovely, supportive family environment. “It’s small enough to be a family, large enough to be diverse” another adds.
This collegiality inevitably flows into a decent social life. Whilst, as one rookie puts it, “we are not the most vibrant social set”, we hear that socialisation is on the up. There are monthly drinks, chambers parties, and dinners for special occasions. At the junior end in particular, there are “lots of events and get togethers organised”, and an uptick in the volume and quality of more relaxed social events.
Personally, we can’t help but think that all of this jolliness might be a symptom of the sets “beautiful” HQ. How could anyone be unhappy nestled in the heart of the Inner Temple, working from a set that “looks exactly like a barristers’ chambers ought to”, and described by one member as “the single best building in the Temple”. Whilst not as modern on the inside as some other sets, “a downside of having a beautiful building in Temple”, “it is worth it”, we hear, especially if you secure a room with a view of the Temple Church. This compromise doesn’t mean a sacrifice in facilities, however. “There are a number of well-appointed conference rooms”, with “decent facilities” (and air-conditioning) on offer for tenants. There is also “brilliant practice management and tech support” accompanied by assistance that is “always available by phone if necessary”. In short — “it does the job”.
Members are also given discretion over the decoration of their shared rooms. Whilst we hear the autonomy is appreciated, “the decor and state of those rooms can depend on who is in them!”
As for pupillage, at FTB it is “well structured” and split into four-month periods, with three different supervisors. You can expect to read your supervisors’ instructions, research relevant law, attempt draft pleadings and opinions as well as follow your supervisors to court hearings and conferences. Members of chambers provide a series of introductory seminars during the first six months to familiarise pupils with the main areas of chambers practice and the issues of law and practice that most commonly arise.
After the first four months, pupils are expected to undertake written work for other members of chambers. In the second six, pupils are able and expected to take on their own work and may be on their feet in a variety of courts, tribunals and inquiries.
During the training year, pupils will complete formal advocacy and written exercises, which include learning how to cross examine expert witnesses. One former pupil says, “I had first class pupil supervisors who went the extra mile to teach the ‘soft skills’ needed to succeed”, while another tells us how their “brilliant pupil master” taught them “everything about presentation and licensing”. In short, we hear that newbies across the board are trained by “the best in the business in our main areas of practice.” “There is nowhere better to learn the ropes of appearing in major environmental litigation.”
One junior’s pupillage even included “invaluable High Court and planning inquiry exercises, with opportunities to cross-examine expert planning consultants.” All of this comes “detailed and helpful feedback”.
The set has a partnership with the Sutton Trust — a group which works with 16-18-year-olds from less advantaged backgrounds — and also runs an annual mooting competition, with the 2024 final judged by the Sir Keith Lindblom, Senior President of Tribunals. This is on top of partaking in the Pegasus Access Scheme, and the Middle Temple outreach programme which aim to support those from diverse backgrounds considering a career at the bar.
To reach the first round of interviews, pupillage applicants should demonstrate “academic achievement and intellectual ability” as well as “advocacy experience and achievement”. The set also looks at applicants’ non-legal work, wider interests and life experience. To get a flavour for chambers life, it offers approximately 40 unassessed mini-pupillages each year. In the last 8 years, 14 of the set’s former pupils have become tenants, resulting in a very impressive retention rate of 87.5%.