Ten Old Square

What many areas of chancery work have in common is that they “combine real human interest with legal and/or factual complexity” which is said to be a “great combination”. “I find it hard to imagine a more stimulating job if you are interested in other people and in the law,” said one. The complexity of the work taken on by tenants at Ten Old Square is particularly high-level given the reputation of the set. As one explains: “Ten Old Square is known for its expertise and so lots of the most difficult – and so most interesting — work comes here.” Cases are said to be “mind-stretching” and “often difficult”, but this only increases their appeal to the brainy tenants at this set. Whether its private client or commercial parties, contentious or non-contentious, members here have worked on some of the biggest cases in chancery law.

To get an idea of the exciting cases being worked on by members, you only need to look at some recent work. There have been visits to the Supreme Court, with Philip Jenkins appearing in a landmark appeal concerning the proper approach a court should take when granting relief under the doctrine of proprietary estoppel, and Simon Taube KC appearing in a dispute concerning whether title to land gifted to the council for use as a school site reverted to the donor’s estate when the school ceased to operate from the gifted land. These precedent-setting cases doubtless created a buzz in chambers. Meanwhile, James Kirby secured a favourable judgement in a case regarding taxation of LLP members income, Gideon Roseman managed further restraints on a freezing injunction and David Shmitz appeared in a case concerning the reach of a provision in the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations Act 1995. Of course, there are also a lot of cases going on behind closed doors in arbitration or being dealt with by the Court of Protection.

With so much going on in chambers, it is vital that there is a good supportive network. Fortunately, Ten Old Square provides this. We are told that “there is, genuinely, always an open door, phone line or WhatsApp group ready to support, whether it’s with work, practice management or wellbeing”, meaning the set is “a wonderful place to work”.

Given the complexity of many of the cases taken on, it would be easy for juniors to find themselves stuck. Fortunately, one tells us: “There is not a single person in chambers (from Head of Chambers downwards) who I would not feel comfortable seeking help on cases from.” Indeed, one tenant tells us that the supportive culture within the set is “one of the stand-out features of working at Ten Old Square”.

Training is said to be a “mixture of on the job training, learning from peers and mentors, as well as formal intense training”. One source summarised their experience as so: “All of my pupil supervisors were extremely supportive and endlessly kind. I cannot thank them enough for investing so much time and energy into assisting me in developing as a barrister.Even following pupillage, colleagues remain accessible and proactively support the learning and training of our junior barristers.”

When it comes to work-life balance, it’s inevitable that it is always a struggle at the Bar. As one tenant puts it: “Any barrister who tells you they have always achieved a perfectly balanced work/life is probably not telling the truth.” However, we hear that at Ten Old Square the clerks are very supportive in helping tenants to achieve the best balance that they can. One junior tells us: “The clerks are very good at keeping you busy but not overloading you with work. I have never had any grumbles about taking time off or holidays.” We also hear that there is “no stigma” in turning down work if you don’t feel that you have capacity. Inevitably, “from time to time everyone will have more on than they can easily deal with” but we’re told “there’s no clocking in here” and chambers offer “a good deal of freedom” in allowing members to work from home.

When tenants at Ten Old Square do wish to unwind, we hear it is very common for members to grab coffee or lunch together. There is also a regular chambers tea at 4pm on Thursdays, which is always popular. One junior tells us that there is “great mixing between the senior and junior end of chambers”. Whilst some tenants tell us they have made “life-long friends” within chambers, others note that “it is important to keep up social life with family and friends beyond the bar” — we suppose it depends on how much you want to mix business and pleasure! There’s said to be “Christmas and summer parties” as well as “after work drinks” and you’ll always find wins, newcomers and birthdays celebrated here.

Situated in Lincoln’s Inn, Ten Old Square has “a beautiful Victorian building which is very impressive to visit”. One tenant describes it as “grand and Dickensian. Clients feel like they are travelling back in time (in a good way)”. Like many older buildings in the Inns, the outside of the building is somewhat grander than the inside. One junior tells us that the “inside is a bit shabby here and there”, whilst another comments that it “could do with modernisation inside”. Still, working in “an unmodernised 19th century period design” does confer certain advantages — “it is quiet, away from the traffic, cool in the summer and surrounded by beautiful lawns and well maintained gardens.”

When it comes to IT, tenants “have access to all the digital work resources” and have recently enjoyed an upgraded phone system. One junior told us, “Our senior clerk prides himself on being at the cutting edge of chambers technology. It all seems to work pretty seamlessly and I have never had any issues”, which is pretty representative feedback.

Those wishing to apply for pupillage at Ten Old Square should apply through the Pupillage Gateway. Those scoring highest on the application will be invited to a first round interview in front of a panel of up to three members of chambers. The 20-minute interview will focus on questions based on the application as well as a short legal problem presented to the candidates 15 minutes before the interview. Those scoring highest in the first round interview will be invited to a more extensive second round interview. Prior to this, they will be sent a piece of written work to complete. At the final round interview, there will be a debate question as well as general questions on the application.

Ten Old Square generally only recruits one pupil per year, with this pupil being offered an award of £75,000. Their pupillage will consist of four periods of three months, allowing the pupil to sit with four different members and see different practice areas. During the second six, pupils will begin to undertake their own work, though this may be on a pro-bono basis. Ten Old Square state that the focus of their pupillage is on training. Training also continues into the early years of practice with a “huge amount of continuing education”.

Ten Old Square state that they are seeking to recruit pupils who have the requisite academic ability, have knowledge and understanding of the law, demonstrate analysis and reasoning, have oral and written communication skills, can relate to lay and professional clients, have a genuine interest in chambers’ fields of practice, and have the resilience, perseverance and drive to succeed at the Bar. Candidates from all backgrounds are welcomed and the selection process is undertaken by individuals who have undergone equality and diversity training. Ten Old Square participates in a number of programmes such as Bridging the Bar and Inner Temple’s Pegasus Access and Support Scheme, and also offers three access mini-pupillages per year to candidates from under-represented groups.

The pupillage experience

I was attracted to Ten Old Square due to its pre-eminence in traditional chancery matters. They also struck me as an extremely friendly and welcoming set, which was evident throughout my year as a pupil.

chambers only takes one pupil each year, and the hope is that the pupil will become a tenant. Everything about the pupillage experience at Ten Old Square is therefore designed to prepare you for tenancy: it is a year-long learning experience in which ‘constructive feedback’ is the operative phrase. This made the pupillage experience a much less stressful period for me than it otherwise could have been. In contrast to other sets, I wasn’t competing with another pupil for a tenancy space and could instead focus on producing my best work in a less-pressured (if not pressure-free) environment.

So far as structure goes, the pupillage experience at Ten Old Square is fairly traditional. I sat in four different ‘seats’, lasting three months each. My supervisors in the first three ‘seats’ were senior juniors, each with a different area of specialism within chambers’ broader practice areas. The tenancy decision was communicated to me in June, towards the end of my third seat. My final seat was then spent under the supervision of two slightly more junior members of chambers so as to better prepare me for the work I might see in my early years of practice. I was also able to take on my own cases in my second six, although these were carefully chosen as the focus remained on my preparation for tenancy.

My day-to-day varied depending on the supervisor and what work was occupying them at the time. However, all of my time was spent working on live cases; I was never sent to a room to look over a dusty set of papers from a matter which had long passed! Instead, I would primarily be working on the same papers as my supervisor, which enabled me to best simulate the feeling of a busy practice. That simulated practice was quite exciting: right from my first day, I was involved in a significant disputed will case concerning one of the wealthiest families in the world. As with much of the work at Ten Old Square, the matter remains highly confidential, so there is little more I can say here. However, it is indicative of the quality of work I saw during my pupillage, which predominantly involved a great deal of contentious and non-contentious trusts work, cases involving the jurisdiction of the Court of Protection, and property law.

While Ten Old Square is a fairly specialist set, it is not all what might be deemed ‘traditional chancery’ work, and there is an opportunity to branch out. Thus, I saw a healthy dose of more commercial-chancery work during my pupillage and indeed sat with a specialist partnership law practitioner in my second seat. Partnership law is a relatively niche (but high stakes) area of practice at the bar, which has developed rapidly following the enactment of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000. Ten Old Square is one of the few sets that specialise in this area, such that the quality of work received is fantastic, and all pupils are given a firm grounding in partnership law ahead of tenancy.

There were no formal assessments during my pupillage at Ten Old Square, which are deemed somewhat artificial. Instead, there was an acknowledgement that I was being assessed on my entire body of work. While this might seem intimidating, it is also an honest and realistic appraisal which allowed me to focus on showing positive development, rather than fixating on any set-piece moment. As was pointed out to me, chambers wants its pupil to become a tenant: any issues or areas to improve would be drawn to my attention well before any tenancy decision was made. Indeed, my supervisors were brilliant in this regard: no matter how busy they were, there was a continual process of feedback and engagement. This was all the more noticeable given that I was one of the unlucky few who had to endure a ‘lockdown pupillage’ due to Covid-19. While this involved much working from home, I was never left to twiddle my thumbs: my supervisors kept in constant contact with me and continued to loop me in on all their phone and Zoom calls.

The transition from pupil to tenant

Straightforward. Pupillage at Ten Old Square is designed to help you hit the ground running from day one, and I certainly felt prepared for my early days as a junior tenant.

I was aided in this regard by the in-house advocacy exercises chambers conducts. I took part in four exercises during my pupillage, each based on a real case to mimic the type of work I might see at the start of tenancy. During my second six, I was also instructed in a few cases in my own right. This provided an excellent opportunity to get rid of any ‘first case jitters’ prior to my tenancy commencing, with the assistance of my pupil supervisor readily available.

That is not to say that no help is available once tenancy commences, however. Under chambers’ mentorship scheme, each new tenant is assigned a senior member of chambers to offer guidance and advise on their career development. chambers also has a strong “open door” policy, and junior tenants are continually reminded that the opportunity to ask questions does not end with pupillage!

What is your practice like now?

I’m barely a year into tenancy, so my practice remains a snapshot of chambers’ general expertise. Most of my instructions therefore concern trusts, estates, wills and probate matters, with a healthy dose of property, tax, and partnership work thrown in. The majority of that work (around 75%) is unled, which I think is a great balance: it enables me to cut my teeth building my practice while still being involved in huge cases that would otherwise be above my pay grade.

Court work has been more frequent than expected: I am in court about once per week. Most of that work is the typical baby-junior fare: e.g., possession and insolvency applications. However, I have also acted in a number of more substantive affairs, including several trials and interim applications. Considering I am in the first year of practice, I have also been fortunate to appear as sole counsel in both the Court of Appeal on a trusts matter and in a High Court trial of a 1975 Act claim, both reported in the media.

While busy, I have been happy with my work-life balance. I can typically get everything done working from 9 am to 6.30 pm without needing to work on my weekends. However, there have obviously had to be some late nights here and there.

What is the culture of chambers?

The friendly (and downright fun) atmosphere is one of the factors that drew me to Ten Old Square. Despite the traditional chancery heritage, it is not ‘stuffy’ at all, and one of the benefits of being a smaller set is the strong sense of collegiality. In addition to junior events and drinks, the clerks organise a daily quiz, and there is also the (more formal) weekly tea.

So far as facilities are concerned, chambers is based right in the centre of Lincoln’s Inn. The building itself is either charming or a little dated, depending on your perspective (I prefer the former), but there is no doubt the Inn is a beautiful setting from which to conduct your practice.

Top tips for those wanting to become a barrister/secure a pupillage at your chambers

To start with the more obvious, a serious candidate will want to make sure they have strong academics, have some advocacy experience, and can demonstrate a genuine interest in chambers’ field of practice.

Once those essential ingredients are combined, my top tip would be to draft and then redraft your application form until it is perfect. chambers receives applications from a lot of outstanding candidates, and it is important to stand out from the crowd. I was sick of the sight of mine once finished, but the hard work pays off: I was interviewed by 17 of the 19 chambers I applied to, and the more interviews you have, the more likely you are to get pupillage.

Specific to Ten Old Square, I would advise any candidate who reaches the final round to take a similar approach to their written opinion (and then be prepared to defend it at interview!). A significant degree of weight is given to that piece of work, which is seen as one of the best indications of a candidate’s suitability for practice.