Chancery Careers

Chancery Careers

Chancery Careers

Do you enjoy unravelling the knottiest of legal problems?  Would you relish appearing in court to develop cutting-edge areas of law?  Does advising major commercial organisations about putting together a complex transaction appeal?  Would you like to help support and guide individuals at times of great stress?

If your answer to any of these questions is “Yes”, then a career at the Chancery Bar may be for you.

The Chancery Bar Association is committed to explaining the challenges and opportunities of a career at the Chancery Bar both to students and to people wishing to transfer from other professions.  The Association believes that it is vital that the Chancery Bar recruits the best, regardless of economic or social background, if it is to maintain its unrivalled reputation for excellence.

What is a Chancery barrister?

Chancery barristers specialise in business, financial and property law, collectively known as the Chancery Bar, and practice primarily in the Chancery Division.

Our history goes back hundreds of years and, since 2017, the Chancery Division has been part of the Business and Property Courts within the High Court.

Historic though our work and background may be, much of our work today arises in a commercial context, sometimes in the most complex of disputes, and often with an international dimension.

The vast majority of Chancery barristers are self-employed, although not exclusively, as there are opportunities to carry out Chancery work as an employed barrister.  Self-employed barristers share offices and expenses with other barristers in what we call ‘sets of Chambers’.

Why join the Chancery Bar?

A career at the Chancery Bar is varied, intellectually stimulating, and provides a financially stable and potentially well-paid occupation.  Many barristers deal with complex and novel legal problems.  What the Chancery Bar offers is genuine variety, encompassing various areas of law, and the opportunity to use your intellect to solve problems and to persuade others using oral and written advocacy.

A career at the Chancery Bar will provide those opportunities and others such as:

  • Specialist work, involving complex problems in a variety of situations, from acting for some of the largest multi-national organisations to private individuals, some of whom are high net worth individuals, others of whom are vulnerable and require specialist help.
  • Independence and control over when and in what way you choose to work.
  • The opportunity to use oral advocacy in court.
  • Financial stability.
  • For the international work, the opportunity to travel overseas to various Caribbean islands, Hong Kong, Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, Singapore, Dubai and other offshore jurisdictions.

On these pages:

  • You can learn more about a career at the Chancery Bar by downloading the Association’s pupillage leaflet (click here).
  • You can find out more about University and Law School events here.
  • There is further information about funding your early years in practice.
  • You can meet some Chancery barristers and hear about their path to the Chancery Bar by clicking here.
  • You can find out about the information we provide to members about Judicial Careers.