Garden Court Chambers |

Chambers was set up in 1974 by six young barristers determined that the spirit which inspired the early Law Centre movement should find a place at the Bar. A strong commitment to the Legal Aid system and to offering legal representation to those disadvantaged by poverty and discrimination formed our founding philosophy. Our areas of practice include Civil Actions Against the Police, Civil Liberties, Community Care, Criminal Defence, Employment, Environmental Law, Family Law, Gypsy and Traveller rights, Housing, Immigration, Mental Health, Nationality, Prison Law, Public and Administrative Law and Professional Negligence. Chambers now has 202 members with 28KCs and, though our range of work and clientele is immeasurably broader, our original commitment remains and underpins our practice.

We offer four places on our comprehensive training during a structured 12-month pupillage. This will involve working with leading practitioners in at least three different areas of law. Pupils will be allocated a different supervisor for each six-month period.

In the second six months of pupillage, our pupils tend to be in court on a daily basis.

Additionally, pupils will benefit from internal courses in substantive law and advocacy.

The interview dates for shortlisted pupils from the Pupillage Gateway will be in April 2022. Candidates are encouraged to visit our website for details and to attend our Open Day on 14th November 2022.

Mini-pupillages - please refer to our website and twitter account for up to date information and dates about our upcoming mini pupillage weeks. Student visits and sponsored student placements are not available.

Garden Court Chambers, now located at 57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, has come a long way from its origins in 1974 when six barristers just out of pupillage set up, with the help of a loan, in three rooms in Lincoln’s Inn.

At the time, their aspirations were regarded as revolutionary if not subversive.

They had clear goals in mind:

• to provide socially useful legal services, supporting and complementing law centres
• to work in an environment that was democratic with a balance of sexes and races
• to train pupils and pay them
• to argue cases that made a difference; in particular, to engage in the struggle for human rights (at a time when the term was regarded with nothing less than ridicule) and for sexual and racial justice. If necessary, working for no reward.

Such ambitions, they realised, could only be achieved by setting up a new set of their own. Three of the founders are still members of Chambers today.

Over the years as Chambers expanded we’ve been in different locations: first to Farrar’s Building in the Inner Temple, then to Garden Court with annexes at Devereux Court. In 2005, we relocated to Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

The aspirations of our founders still remain integral to Chambers.

Through thick and thin the commitment of the members of Chambers and staff has not wavered. Much of the founders original vision has been achieved. Some of our innovations have been accepted by the Bar in general and some have even become compulsory.

Our casework has substantially contributed to the progress of the law and to social progress. In the reported cases, across all our areas of practice, counsel from Garden Court Chambers have argued in the defence of the rights of accused and in furtherance of the rights of individuals against the state in landmark decisions. Our stance is often bold and inventive and, in the end, successful.

Our belief in our motto 'Recte faciendo neminem timens' (Do right, fear no-one!), our commitment to principle and to the quality of our client service remains as strong as ever.

Garden Court is committed to eliminating all forms of discrimination and to encouraging diversity. We particularly welcome applications from ethnic minority and women candidates. We seek to operate a fair recruitment process.