Maitland Chambers |

We are instructed in a huge range of cases, from major international commercial litigation to disputes over the family home. The majority of our work is done in the Business and Property Courts in London, although we frequently advise and appear for clients in other parts of the United Kingdom and abroad.

Areas of work include:

• Commercial disputes: commercial contracts; banking; guarantees; financial instruments and derivatives; restraint of trade;
• Company and partnership law: shareholders' and directors' disputes; financial and market regulation; mergers and acquisitions; directors' disqualification; partnerships and LLPs;
• Corporate and individual insolvency: liquidation; administration; receivership; voluntary arrangements; bankruptcy;
• Professional negligence, including that of solicitors, accountants, auditors and surveyors;
• Civil fraud: fraud in the company and commercial context; tracing and recovery of assets; freezing and search orders;
• Real property: landlord and tenant; mortgages and other forms of security over property; easements and covenants; trusts of land; conveyancing and contracts for the development of land;
• Intellectual property and copyright; other disputes in the entertainment, media and sport arenas;
• Trusts and tax; charities; pensions; wills and administration of estates; family provision.

Why Maitland?

Our continued success as a leading set of Chambers depends on our recruitment of the most talented people, the comprehensive training we give them during pupillage and the opportunities we offer them as junior tenants. We see every pupil as a prospective tenant; and ultimately, we hope, a future KC.

There is no such thing as a “Maitland type”. We look for the qualities which we think are required to excel in our field of practice: a first-class mind; an aptitude for written and oral advocacy; good judgment; sound interpersonal skills; and a level temperament. We believe that those qualities are to be found in candidates from every background; and can be evidenced in many different ways.

We are committed to increasing the diversity of Maitland and adopt a variety of techniques to achieve that objective, while maintaining the fair treatment of all candidates.

What do we offer?

We offer a 12-month pupillage in accordance with the requirements of the Bar Standards Board; and with an emphasis throughout on training in all of the skills required of an excellent commercial and commercial chancery practitioner.

We only offer pupillage to candidates who demonstrate that they have the ability and skills to become tenants at Maitland. We have no limit on the number of tenancies offered in any given year and pupils are never in competition with each other. We have for many years recruited as tenants most, or all, of our pupils. Provided a candidate meets the requisite standard based on their own performance, a tenancy is offered.

From September 2025 a pupillage award of £75,000 is offered to all pupils at Maitland. Up to £30,000 of the award may be drawn down in advance during the course taken to satisfy the vocational component of Bar training or to pay the associated fees. The balance of the award is paid in instalments monthly in advance over the course of the 12 months of pupillage. We also fund the compulsory courses required of pupils by the Bar Standards Board.

Your Pupillage Application

Maitland is a member of the Pupillage Gateway and applications for pupillage are made in accordance with the Gateway timetable.

Eligibility to Apply

We welcome applications both from law and non-law graduates and recognise that training in other disciplines can be good preparation for a career at the Bar. We have in recent years offered pupillages and tenancies to those with law degrees and those who converted to law after their undergraduate degrees in roughly equal numbers.

All candidates must have obtained (or be predicted) a minimum upper second class undergraduate degree or equivalent; and be “on track” to being qualified to start pupillage in September 2025 by completing the vocational component of Bar training before then (by any of the relevant pathways permitted by the Bar Standards Board.

We also accept applications from candidates who are already qualified as legal practitioners in England and Wales or in other jurisdictions. On occasion, it may be possible for such a candidate to be recruited outside the pupillage process; and we are happy to consider any individual case. But for most candidates who have not previously practised as advocates in England and Wales, we regard a Gateway application and a full pupillage thereafter as appropriate, even if from a regulatory point of view the Bar Standards Board would be prepared to waive some or all of the candidate’s pupillage requirements upon transfer to the English Bar.

Unsuccessful applicants for pupillage may apply for a second time in a subsequent year. However, we do not accept further applications from candidates who have applied twice previously.