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Life as a junior tenant

So, you have had a tough year, you have battled through pupillage and secured a tenancy. What can you expect as a junior tenant at Hardwicke? Well, a lot of that depends on what area of law you are practising.  There are, however, a few things that apply to all of our juniors.

You will be in court a lot. What “a lot” means varies according to the area of law. Tenants practising in family, housing, injury and employment law, for example, may spend most of their days in court, whereas the commercial tenants may only be in court a couple of days a week. Either way, we ensure that our junior tenants are exposed to court regularly; development as an advocate doesn’t stop at the end of pupillage!

What kind of work will you be doing? Well, again, that obviously varies from area to area but as a good rule of thumb, you can expect to carry on doing the same sort of work you were doing as a practising pupil but expect the value and complexity of the cases to increase as you establish yourself. You may also have the opportunity to be led by senior members of chambers in big cases or to act as part of a counsel team.

Life as a junior tenant is hard but rewarding and at Hardwicke we want to support you through the transition to practice as best we can. We try to ensure that, at least for your first year or so, you will share a room with someone more senior, who can act as a sounding board or mentor or just a supportive room-mate when you have had a bad day.  We also tend to have an open-door policy and you will always be able to find a member of chambers to bounce ideas off (or even just drop in for a chat!).

We have also organised our staff function to give us the highest levels of administrative support and they will be able to help you settle in to practice. Our practice managers are committed to developing and supporting your practice and they will ensure that you are in the right place at the right time (and hopefully not too flustered in the process) and that you are always in control of your workload.

We also understand that cash-flow and finances can be tight when you first start out. For that reason, we have a dedicated fees collection team and a guaranteed earnings loan scheme for junior tenants. We also give junior tenants an introductory rent-free period.

Hardwicke also provides for your yearly CPD requirements. We run a series of internal and external seminars across a range of topics (you might be giving some of these yourself) and you will never be wanting for that last hour of CPD at the end of the year.

The last (and possibly most important) part of life as a junior at Hardwicke is the fact that you are made welcome and part of the team from the start. We are a very social Chambers and, in addition to impromptu drinks after work, we have a busy social calendar including pizza evenings, jazz nights, quizzes, parties and the yearly chambers ski trip. Life at the Bar isn’t just about work.

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Upcoming Events

10.07.2012
Service Charges: The Workings of Section 20B

22.05.2012
The Article 8 Defence and its Impact on Private Landlords' Possession Actions

16.04.2012
Lexis Nexis Presents a Webinar on How to Run Cases in the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal