Pupillage

Our pupils gain valuable experience from those who prosecute and defend in the most complex and high-profile cases, many of whom are recommended in the Legal 500 and Chambers UK directories. Many of our former members have progressed from Chambers to successful careers in the judiciary.

A pupillage with the criminal group provides exposure to the highest quality work within a supportive and collaborative environment. The initial six months are intensive but rewarding. Pupils will begin to prepare cases, research often complex legal and procedural issues and prepare written submissions. They will spend most of their time with their supervisor but will also have the opportunity to see a wide variety of work with other members of the group. Although there will be occasions when a pupil travels beyond the Midland circuit, most of the court work will be in the Midlands. The group’s experienced clerking team will provide support as pupils begin their second six to carefully manage their diary and start to build their practice.

Chambers offers a significant amount of work for junior practitioners. This means that from their second-six pupils can expect to be very busy in the Crown Court and the Magistrates’ Court, while continuing to work with their supervisor to ensure the successful completion of the pupillage process. Our aim is for pupils to realise their full potential with our encouragement and support.

No5’s employment barristers are regularly instructed in cases which are at the cutting edge of employment and discrimination litigation. The Group has been involved in a number of important cases over recent years, in the High Court, Employment Appeal Tribunal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. It has strong links with public sector clients, including NHS Trusts, local authorities, police institutions, and the Government, with a number of our members appointed as Panel Counsel.

The vast majority of instructions are in the Employment Tribunal and, as a pupil you can expect to see a wide variety of claims in your first six, before conducting your own advocacy in your second six. Senior members of the Group typically appear in lengthy and complicated Tribunal hearings involving allegations of discrimination and whistleblowing. As a first six pupil, you will assist your supervisor in the conduct of such claims, including legal research and drafting advice, pleadings and skeleton arguments.

Once you are on your feet in your second six, you can expect a mixture of paperwork and advocacy in Tribunal hearings, usually a combination of short preliminary hearings and straightforward final hearings such as unfair dismissal and wages claims. You can expect to progress quickly on to discrimination cases and other more complex claims.

Planning decisions are made by local authorities, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Welsh Ministers, or Inspectors appointed on behalf of the latter two. Those decisions may then be challenged by way of judicial or statutory review, or on appeal to a planning inspector. Members regularly appear before all tribunals including the specialist Planning Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Members also appear in the Magistrates’ Courts, the Crown Court (generally in relation to criminal breaches of heritage and environmental law), as well as the First Tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal (generally in relation to compulsory purchase, the valuation of land and the disclosure of information relating to the environment).

No5 is “A go-to for planning and environmental advice” and “can field an extraordinary array of experience and talent in the planning field” (Legal 500). We are noted as being a “heavyweight in planning” and members do some “incredible work in the planning sector.” No5 is regarded as having “an established reputation for excellence in planning law” and our “barristers are some of the best in the planning industry” (Chambers & Partners).

The Planning and Environment group is home to some of the leading barristers in the field of planning and environment law. The group has five silks and seventeen juniors many of whom are highly individually ranked by industry surveys and directories.

Barristers frequently appear at proceedings before planning inspectors including planning inquiries, hearings, examinations in public and development consent order hearings all over the country. Members represent developers, land promoters, local authorities and parish councils, as well as action groups who want to take part in the planning process. Members of the Planning Group have been appointed the Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel and so can advise and represent the government in relation to challenges to planning appeal decisions and to the adoption of new planning policy.

Members of the Group have been involved in a number of high-profile cases including the following:

• Solar Farms and Nuclear Power Stations
• Heathrow runway extensions and Heathrow litigation;
• The ‘Shirley’ litigation concerning air quality impacts;
• The promotion of new settlements and garden villages;
• The Thames Tideway Super Sewer;
• HS2;
• The ‘Diddly Squat Farm’ and the ‘Captain Tom Building’ planning enforcement
• Litigation in the Supreme Court including the ‘Wright’ case concerning material considerations; the ‘Wathen-Fayed’ case on statutory interpretation; the ‘D B Symmetry’ case on planning conditions; the ‘Suffolk Coastal’ case on the interpretation of The NPPF.

During pupillage you will see a wide variety of work, assisting your pupil supervisor and other members of the group. In your second six you will begin life as an advocate in your own cases. As a junior tenant your practice will develop quickly – but you will be mentored by an experienced member who will support you when required. The Planning and Environment Group prides itself on its ethos, collegiality and the well-being of its members and clerks. If you would like to contact a recent pupil (now tenant) then please email planning@no5.com.