4 Stone Buildings - Pupillage - October 2027

Pupillage Vacancy Information

About Authorised Education and Training Organisation

4 Stone Buildings is a leading litigation set, specialising in complex and high value disputes, often with an international element. We focus on specialist commercial areas, in particular banking, company and insolvency, commercial fraud and financial services law. We handle disputes in court and in international arbitration. We are active in many offshore markets including the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

We are a flexible and dynamic set with a long and successful history. We pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to and drive change in the commercial world around us. We are at the forefront of legal developments in our specialist fields. For example, many of our members are involved in the FinTech and cryptoassets sectors. Members are regularly instructed in the leading cases in our practice areas, appearing often in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The legal directories consistently rank us as one of the top sets at the Bar in our core areas and we were Set of the Year at the Legal 500 UK Bar Awards 2025.

Members hold significant positions within the legal world. We have the immediate past Chair of the Charity Commission, a recent Treasurer of Lincoln’s Inn, the Attorney General to HRH the Prince of Wales and a Judge in the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey. Recent former members include a Court of Appeal Judge, a High Court Judge and a Judge of the Insolvency and Companies Court, and several of our members are Deputy High Court Judges.

In addition to being academically accomplished and leaders in their profession, our barristers also have a wide variety of outside interests - which we strongly support. These range from volunteering in the charity sector to music and sport. One of our barristers is a Women’s British Triathlon Age Group Champion.

As regards pupillage, we have both the work and accommodation for new members. Our intention is to have two or three pupils each year and to recruit those pupils who meet the required standard. We believe that pupils are in Chambers to learn rather than to be tested and should be given the best opportunity to demonstrate to us that they should be retained as tenants. Showing this commitment to expanding by recruitment from the bottom of Chambers, we have taken on all our pupils in the last five years. What we look for in a pupillage applicant is good academic achievement or aptitude, ideally demonstrated by a first class or good second class degree (but not necessarily in law). However, mere intellectual ability is only part of it: a successful candidate must have the confidence and ambition to succeed, the common sense to recognise the practical advice a client really needs, and an ability to get on well with clients, solicitors and other members of Chambers and the clerks.

Structure of Pupillage

We aim to give all our pupils the knowledge, skills and practical experience they need for a successful career at the Bar, and to help make the transition from academic life to practical, real life at the Bar. We also believe that it is important for pupils to see as much as possible of the different kinds of work in Chambers. This enables them to judge whether our work suits them, and enables different members of Chambers to assess the pupils.

Each pupil therefore normally spends time with four pupil supervisors during the year. All pupils work in their pupil supervisor's room. Pupils generally work on ‘live’ cases; they read their supervisor’s papers, attend their conferences, draft pleadings and documents, write draft opinions and skeleton arguments, and accompany their pupil supervisor to Court. In addition, if other members of Chambers have particularly interesting cases in Court, pupils will be encouraged to work and attend Court with them. We are a friendly set, and pupils are an important part of Chambers. Our pupils are fully involved in the activities of Chambers and are invited to all social events.

As with all Chambers, pupils are now assessed against the competencies set out in the BSB’s Professional Statement for Barristers, further details of which are found (along with other materials relating to pupillage generally) on the BSB’s website at www.barstandardsboard.org.uk.

Financial and Other Support Available

Our pupillage award for pupillage commencing in October 2027 is £80,000 per annum of which £50,000 is payable in monthly instalments in the first 6 months and £30,000 is payable in monthly instalments in the second 6 months. Pupils can also draw down part of the award for the first six in the year prior to pupillage on request to Chambers.

Equality Diversity and Inclusion

We pride ourselves on our integrity and inclusivity while providing excellent client service. We also pride ourselves on being great team players, both within Chambers and with clients. We promote a friendly and supportive working environment in which our members can thrive. We make no distinctions of social, educational or economic background or circumstances. We will never allow discrimination on grounds of race, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, disability, age or religion or belief; nor will we allow harassment, victimisation, bullying or an unsafe working environment. Any such conduct would be contrary to our principles of fairness. It would also be unlawful.

We are signatories of the Women in Law pledge, and have members of Chambers that sit on the Bar Council Pro Bono and Social Responsibility Committee, the Chancery Bar Association’s Equality and Diversity Sub-Committee and the Board of Advocate. More generally members carry out significant amounts of pro bono work alongside their professional commitments.

We are also committed to ensuring that a career at the Bar is available to all, irrespective of background. We participate in a wide range of schemes to enhance knowledge of the law and access to pupillage, including Bridging the Bar, 10,000 Black Interns, the Middle Temple Access to the Bar Scheme, International Lawyers for Africa, the Bar Placement Scheme, Leducate, and the COMBAR Social Mobility Mentoring Scheme.

Our ED&I code is available on our website at ED&I and CSR - 4 Stone Buildings and further information about our EDI policies and initiatives can be obtained from our EDI Committee who can be contacted by email through pupillage@4stonebuildings.com.

Use of generative AI tools

Your application form must be your sole creation and original work. AI may be used for research, proofreading and checking spelling only. Applicants are not permitted to use any AI programme to write all or part of the application form including any responses to the questions at the end of the application form. Any form which has been written, in part or in whole, by ChatGPT or similar programmes will be excluded from the pupillage process.

Please note that we do not use AI at any point during our recruitment process; all assessments and decisions are made by our pupillage committee.

Any Other Relevant Information

As part of our pupillage application process we also consider references at the interview stage. Accordingly if you are invited for an interview, it would assist us greatly if you could arrange for your referees to write to us at that point. References can be submitted by email to pupillage@4stonebuildings.com

Additional details about 4 Stone Buildings and about pupillage can be found under the pupillage tab at www.4stonebuildings.com.

A copy of our Pupillage Policy can be found on our website at Pupillage – 4 Stone Buildings.

How to Apply

Aspiring barristers are invited to apply to chambers between 5 January 2026 and 22 January 2026 using the Pupillage Gateway application system to search for the relevant Pupillage Vacancy and selecting ‘Apply for this pupillage’.

Candidates will be asked to respond to the following questions from Chambers:

1. Why do you believe you will make a good barrister? In your answer, please identify any relevant experiences or skills that you believe may help you in your career. (200 words)

2. Why do you want to join our chambers? In your answer, please give reasons for your choice of chambers and explain why you are interested in our areas of practice. (200 words)

3. Please give an example of a situation, whether in a legal context or otherwise, in which you had to advocate for a position? In your answer explain the circumstances, how you approached the argument and what you gained from the experience. (200 words)

4. If you could make one significant change to English law, whether by adding a new legal principle or statute, or by removing one, what change would you make and why? (150 words)

5. What do you think are the positive and negative realities of a career at the Commercial Chancery Bar? How would you deal with any of the negative realities that you have identified? (200 words)