Meet Georgia Terry

Can you tell us about your experience as a pupil at Maitland Chambers? 

The emphasis on training at Maitland creates an environment where the focus really is on continual and incremental development, so that on day one of tenancy I could hit the ground running. Pupils sit with four supervisors for ten weeks each. Because Maitland's core practice areas are broad, each of my supervisors had really quite different specialisms. I was engrossed in their practice and would attend court and client conferences whenever they did. 

The entire forty weeks are assessed, and it felt as though the process was designed with transparency and feedback in mind, over and above anything else. At all times, my supervisors were proactively guiding me towards the skills and competencies that make up the threshold against which the tenancy decision would ultimately be assessed. 

Every piece of written work (live or non-live) is assessed from the outset against a standardised grading system, which allowed me to track my own progression and reduced, insofar as is possible, the incidental stresses that can be associated with pupillage. 

Maitland's in-house advocacy training gave me the opportunity to evolve as an advocate while also receiving detailed and comprehensive feedback in a supportive environment. 

Pupils are also included in Chambers' social events. I would often attend in-house seminars and networking events, and there are regular internal social events (including weekly juniors' lunches) which provided another layer of support during a busy year.

As well as being brilliant preparation for commercial chancery practice, pupillage at Maitland felt thoroughly and carefully designed with transparency and progress at the front and centre of the process.